Standing On the Edge of Summer
by Disturbed Courtney
Summary: In the heat of battle, one would expect to find a familiar face in that of her teammate. What happens when you find a familiar face in your supposed enemy? Romy, during and post DoR. Chapter Eight posted finally!
1. Tomorrow I'll Be You

Top of Form

**Standing On the Edge of Summer**

_Tomorrow I'll Be You_

The frayed strands of Rogue's two-toned hair stood on end as Storm gathered all the static electricity in the air and focused it on the mutant with the propane tank attached to his back. It fizzled underneath the rain, causing him to gasp aloud with surprise. He threw the X-Men a nasty, disgruntled look while Storm smiled slightly.

"Good thing she has our back," Jean breathed thankfully from Rogue's side. The redhead glanced around as the rain tapered off, taking a mental count of the team she was leading. Kurt was across the lot, helping up Evan. _I think we're all good_, she thought with a sigh of relief. She turned to tell Rogue to stay put so they could regroup in case the pyromaniac decided to take another try at melting them. However, upon glancing to her right, Rogue was gone.

Jean whipped her head around, her golden red hair flailing behind her, and saw Rogue running towards the fray of crates about a hundred feet behind where they'd been attacked. "Rogue! Come back!" she called frantically.

Rogue stopped for a breath of a moment, glancing over her shoulder. '_Ah saw one of 'em go this way. You guys can handle Fireboy now that his pack is on the fritz. Ah'll be back!'_ She projected to the psychic before she took off again, losing herself amongst the maze of crates before Jean could send the others after her.

'_Okay, be careful!'_ Jean's tone was full of worry, but Rogue knew how to take care of herself. _Ah can handle this stuff on mah own_, she thought with a scoff. She followed the twists and turns of the crates, sure that she'd seen one of Magneto's goons exit in this direction.

Rogue had only gotten a vague view of him as he had been standing behind the crazy pyro as he threw blazing playing cards at her team. The weapon was easy to underestimate – they were _playing cards_ after all; that is, until they erupted into a violent explosion that promised scorched skin if you got too close. While everyone had dodged the flying cards, Rogue caught the slightest of smirks on his face before fire roared before her. She threw her hands up to protect her eyes as Jean pulled the two of them back with her telekinesis. Once she'd lowered her arms and squinted her eyes against the intense heat, she saw the guy slink back away from the Pyro, satisfied but also with an air of uncertainty in his steps. He had disappeared into the crates while his teammate sent forward another fire creature.

_Oh, he's not gettin' away **that** easy_, she'd thought with a snarl.

Looking ahead, she caught his silhouette against the fireworks of her teammates fighting the other bad guys. She grinned as his shadow ducked around the corner of the crate just in front of her. _Thought he got away foh a second there._

She assumed the Pyro was back in some sort of commission or someone else had been creating a light show – _maybe Storm again_, thought Rogue, but she silently thanked them as she would've missed out on the mystery guy if they hadn't lit the way.

As she crept closer, she finally felt the first bead of foolishness drop into her pool of defiance. He had a very volatile power and she intended to face him alone. While none of his targets had hit any of the X-Men, Rogue was sure that hadn't been his intent. He was fighting alongside Magneto – he was there to hurt them, right? With that in mind, she slipped off one of her golden gloves and tucked it into her belt.

As she slunk against the cargo crate, she tried to keep the mindset that she was the predator hunting for her prey – even though she felt like a mouse about to be pounced on by a finicky alley cat. With her jaw set tight in determination, she told herself to not to let this guy get the best of her. Thanks to Wolverine, she and the others were highly skilled in several types of martial arts, not to mention all she needed to do was find an inch of skin and take him down that way. Then maybe she could find out what this entire fight was about, because none of the other X-Men seemed to know either.

She reached the end of the crate, her breath caught in her lungs. She pressed her back against the crate hard enough to merge with it, hoping to hear any sort of inclination that he was still waiting on the other side.

Lightning filled the sky as another firebird loomed in the air off in the distance. The sight forced a gasp from Rogue's lungs and she instantly cursed mentally for making a sound. _Jus' put up flyers the next time ya plan ta sneak up on someone, Rogue._ _It'll be **a lot** easier_, she scoffed at herself harshly. She breathed quickly, deciding _now or never._

Without another moment's hesitation, she lunged out from behind the crate and came face to face with her so-called prey. She wanted to take the opportunity to size him up, to calculate if she'd be able to take him down physically, what weapons he might have had in addition to the cards, what skin was exposed and how long it would take for her to touch him. Unfortunately, once her eyes connected with his, all strategies fled from her mind and she froze.

Those eyes. _Ah know those friggin' eyes._

Red irises in a pool of black.

She blinked for a moment, realizing that he was staring at her with the same gawking expression across his face. His grip on his bo staff tightened as his eyes squinted at her, recognition widening them again only a moment later. The white bangs, the impossible green eyes – he knew her. It may have been another life, but he knew her. His bo staff became loose as his fist relaxed. It fell to the ground, a loud clank ringing through the air. The sound fell on deaf ears, as neither of them reacted.

However, the world began to move again, but only in slow motion. Her lips moved, unable to form words. She took a step back after she realized how close they were, blinking her gray-green eyes erratically. He did the same, breathing in roughly.

And it seemed they found their voices simultaneously and Rogue spoke a name that she hadn't dared to utter aloud in over six years. "Remy…?"

At the same time, his smooth voice crawled across the air between them and he whispered, confused: "Anna?"

------

The sun rose over the Mississippi in the same fashion as it always did in the morning. The sticky air craved the warmth of the sun as light cascaded over the banks of the river. Instantly, the air warmed to the morning sun, promising yet another humid, hot summer day. Frogs sitting on rocks croaked in protest before they jumped into the comfortable depths of the murky water while other fish in the water flipped their tails arrogantly, gloating to the animals stuck on land. Other animals awoke to the blinding sun and prepared themselves for the oncoming scorcher.

Simultaneously, hours after the sun had awoken and risen in the sky, two bodies hid in dismay from the burning sunlight. The two bodies, along different parts of the Mississippi River groaned as their attempts to sleep were foiled a little too easily by the summer sun as it managed to peek into their windows in just the right spot.

How convenient.

"Ugh…" Anna Marie Hardwick groaned, rolling over in an effort to flee from the sun beams stretching across her room. "Ah'm not ready ta get up yet…"

"_Merde_…" Remy LeBeau muttered, his arm flinging itself across his light sensitive eyes. "Who left m' curtains open!" He moaned as he wrenched his pillow out from under his head and threw it over his face.

"Anna?" She groaned again at the sound of her name filtering in from the hallway. "Are you awake?"

"No," she murmured into her pillow, clutching onto it in futile hopes of catching sleep before it slipped away from her completely.

The door swung open, but he didn't move a muscle. "Remy Etienne LeBeau," he heard his _tante_ Mattie grouse as she crossed the room. "Y' best get y'self out of dat bed. **Right now.**" Her heavy footsteps traveled across the room to the window. Remy peeked out from under his pillow curiously, instantly regretting it as Tante yanked open the curtains further. Sunlight flooded the room and Remy took to the shelter of his pillow once again.

"It's getting late," Irene chided as she opened the door to her foster daughter's room.

"Cain't Ah just stay in bed jus' a li'l longer?" whined the eleven-year-old. "It is _summer_, ya know."

"It's almost noon!" Mattie shouted as she snatched the pillow off Remy's face. "C'mon, chil'. Up y' go."

"I won't let you spend the day in bed." Irene paced across the room cautiously. Anna heard the _tap, tap_ of her guardian's walking stick against the wooden floor. The irritating sound produced another cry as Anna unceremoniously threw the blanket from her body.

"Fine. 'M up, 'm up." With his sheets in a kicked up bundle at the foot of his bed, he threw his legs over the side of the bed.

Her arms stretched over her head, working away the rest of her sleepiness with a yawn. She pushed herself to her feet, unwilling to move further just yet.

"Get movin', Remy," Tante said in a warning tone. "Y' _père_ ain' too pleased wit' how y' wastin' y' summer already." Her dark hand found his arm and tugged him along with herself out of the room.

"We're taking a little trip, to New Orleans," Irene explained to Anna as she finally got the girl to move. "We can't do that if you stay in bed, sweetheart."

Remy wrenched his arm out of Tante's grasp, but kept pace behind her. He shrugged, knowing that Tante couldn't see him. "An' what's he want me t' do 'bout it?"

Anna suddenly perked up. "New Orleans? We've never gone there before!"

"He wants y' t' practice an' keep up wit' y' studies," Tante threw back. Remy could hear a smirk lacing her voice and matched it with one of his own.

"It's time you were able to explore more. I know you've been itching to go see what it's like as well, so when the opportunity present itself, I couldn't ignore it," Irene explained with a tender smile.

_So much f' summer_, the boy mock-complained mentally as he followed Tante downstairs. She'd no doubt prepared him an excellent late breakfast that made the rude awakening well worth it.

_Now this is what Ah call summer!_ Anna excitedly thought as she closed the bathroom door to freshen up. It was rare for Irene to take her anywhere as her blindness was usually a determent. However, Anna knew the woman cared immensely for her and tried to keep her as happy as she could given the circumstances. She cleaned herself up quickly so she wouldn't keep Irene waiting.

------------

An hour or so later, a cab arrived in front of Irene's house in Caldecott County. "It's here, Reenie, it's here!" Anna cheered as she grabbed her bag and threw the strap over her shoulder.

"Go on out, dear. I'm right behind you," Irene called from the kitchen. Anna could hear Irene's tapping increase as she entered the living room. Knowing her guardian could make it out to the cab on her own, Anna fled the house with a bright grin on her face. Her loose dark auburn hair flailed behind her, mingling with her oddly white forelocks like a banner. She reached the cab in record time, her hair falling down her back in a wavy mess. She grinned eagerly at the driver, who found her smile contagious as he stepped out of the cab to assist Irene.

Anna all but jumped into the car, bouncing into the vinyl seat. She accepted Irene's walking stick as the driver helped her into the car gently. Once Irene was in her seat, Anna dropped the stick by their feet and squirmed next to her guardian, grasping her hand tightly. "Ah'm so happy we're doin' this!" She squealed. The cab driver smiled as he began driving, glancing back to the tiny family in the rearview mirror. His smirk grew as Anna began talking animatedly about the things she'd read about New Orleans and the places she wanted to see. Irene nodded patiently along with Anna's excited rambling, happy to hear her foster daughter so thrilled.

-----

Remy ate his breakfast at his regular pace – he usually began slow, savoring every bite of the spicy omelet Tante Mattie had made for him. As his plate emptied bite by bite, his pace increased and it wasn't long before every scrap of egg and sauce was cleaned off the platter in front of him. Mattie cleared his plate and utensils from him as soon as he started to wipe off his face with a napkin.

He picked up his glass and took a long gulp of his orange juice. After swallowing it all down, he turned to Mattie, who was busy rinsing off the dishes in the sink. "What's m' _père_ up t' today?"

"He's got a few meetin's wit' de Council," she replied shortly, her attention not leaving the task in front of her.

"What 'bout Henri?"

"Mercy's draggin' him 'round town f'r de weddin' business."

Remy snorted and kicked the leg of the table. "Den why did I bot'er t' get out o' bed dis mornin'? No one's here t' make me do anyt'in'." Upon him saying that, Mattie turned around and glared. "'Cept f'r you, o' course…" He laughed nervously, grinning lopsidedly.

"Y' _père_ jus' wanted y' up an' 'bout. Said somet'in' 'bout goin' in t' town wit' dat Lapin," she threw over her shoulder as she turned back to the sink.

"He's still mad at me 'bout t'rowin' his comics in de river," Remy said, chuckling. Yeah, his cousin was just _slightly_ peeved at Remy after his rare copies of Spider-Man floated by them on the Mississippi a few afternoons before. What Lapin didn't know was that Remy had swiped the comics from him a week before, made color copies of the covers and pasted them onto a couple magazines, all while saving the actual comics underneath his mattress. Remy figured he'd let Lapin sweat it out for another week or so before sneaking the comics back into place, with Lapin none the wiser.

"Well, I s'gest y' find somet'in' t' keep y'self occupied. I 'magine Jean Luc won' be too t'rilled t' come home an' find y' here spendin' yet anot'er day in de house."

He pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. "Fine, fine. I'll get out of y' hair so y' don' have t' worry 'bout me," he mock pouted as he pushed his chair in behind him.

"Stay out of trouble," Tante Mattie called after him as he exited the kitchen.

He stopped in his tracks at her words and turned to peek his head into the kitchen. "Y' know me better'n dat," he smirked deviously.

-----

The duet arrived in the heart of New Orleans a few hours later. When they had reached the city limits, Anna had been taken over by astonishment, forgetting the previous hours of anticipation. She sat silently with her face and hands pressed up against the cab window, her gray-green eyes drinking in every sight.

"You remember my friend Valerie Cooper, don't you, Anna?" Irene asked idly.

The young girl peeled her face away from the glass just enough to nod. "She's the blonde lady, ain't she?"

"I wouldn't know, darling," Irene laughed. "I imagine so, though. She's going to be meeting us in the French Quarter and will be escorting us around."

"Isn't she from DC or somethin'?" Anna's face returned to its smushed position against the window. "What's she doin' down here?"

"She's down here on business for the rest of the summer. She has a few spare days this week so we decided to spend them together and also to show you the area," Irene explained, a patient smile on her face. She knew Anna's attention was waning as they traveled further and further into the city.

"Cool," Anna murmured as her eyes followed a trolley heading down the road. "Can we ride one of those? The trolleys, Ah mean."

"Certainly, dear."

-----

"'M callin' t' check in," Remy said into the pay phone's receiver, running his finger along the coiled cord.

"Good chil'," Tante Mattie replied. "Y' _père_ called. He's wants y' home by dinner t' discuss what de Council decided."

"Decided 'bout what?"

"'Bout de deal wit' de Assassins."

Remy snorted into the phone, blowing a few stray strands of his coppery brown hair out of his face. "Dey don' need me f' dat."

Mattie fell silent on the other end of the phone for a moment. "Jus' make sure y' home, _hein_? Henri will be here too." she firmly said after a long silence.

"Fine. Bye, Tante." He didn't wait for a response before he hung up the phone angrily. In the seven years he'd spent with his adoptive family, Remy had learned to hate the Assassins. Nothing good ever came from dealing with the rival family of New Orleans, yet Remy's father Jean Luc persisted in negotiations with them. Remy didn't understand the formalities of the opposing family, but slowly everyone informed him of more and more. He had a strong feeling that his father was trying to get him more involved than he wanted to be.

He shoved his hands into his loose pockets as he began walking away from the payphone. Only one thing could brighten his mood after this. Planting a smirk on his face, he headed into the shopping district to see what he could do for fun.

-----

The taxi came to a stop in front of a small coffee shop with an outdoor patio and an adjacent ice cream store. As Anna hurried out of the cab, she saw Irene's friend walking up to meet them.

"Hello, Anna," the tall blonde greeted her warmly.

"Hi," Anna responded shortly, half out of shyness and the other half from disinterest. Her eyes scoped around the general area, taking in everything her mind could process. She also noted how Val hadn't bothered to dress down – the woman couldn't be seen in anything but business-casual attire.

Val smiled at the young girl, not put off by her actions at all. She walked around to the other side of the car where the driver was helping Irene out of the cab. "Thank you," Irene said gratefully to the driver, reaching for her purse.

"Nonsense, Irene," Val chided, putting her hand over her friend's for a moment before reaching into her own purse for the cab fare.

"Thank you," Irene repeated, this time to Val.

"Don't you say a word about it," Val said with a laugh. "I still don't know why you didn't let me drive up to Caldecott to pick you two up." She looped her arm through Irene's and guided her to where Anna had amazingly stayed put.

Irene would've thrown her friend a look if she hadn't been blind. "Why don't we get something to drink," she instead suggested as her hand reached for Anna's. After she had secured her daughter's hand, she added, "There's ice cream for Anna too, isn't there?"

"Ice cream?" Anna squealed.

-----

Remy glanced to a clock in the square, noting it was just past 4:30. He watched with a muted glee as people ran in and out of stores and restaurants, grabbing things in a post-work day summer haze that they needed and wanted before they headed home for the night.

"Dis'll be cake," he grinned as he began walking and looking for possible targets. It didn't take long until his red on black eyes spotted a group of teenage girls, no more than three years older than him, enjoying their summer afternoon. They paid no attention to the world around them, too engrossed in their gossip and giggles to catch anything out of the ordinary.

Remy pushed his sunglasses back on his nose. _Perfect_.

-----

"Don't wander far, dear. Val and I will just be right here," Irene called from the café's patio as Anna skipped along the edge of the grass in front of the property. She knew Irene and Val were just going to talk about grown-up things, so she was happy that Irene wasn't making her sit with them through it. She watched as more trolleys drove by, passengers getting on and off effortlessly.

"So this is New Orleans," she mused aloud happily, taking a thoughtful lick of her ice cream cone. The treat was melting quickly in the summer heat, so Anna's tongue darted over and around the cone continuously so she wouldn't miss a single drop. She sighed when a drop managed to fall on her shirt despite her best efforts. She rubbed it out with her long sleeve, hoping the vanilla wouldn't be too noticeable on her blue shirt.

She spared a glance back to the café, where Irene sat, talking intensely with Val. Anna could tell the other woman was keeping an eye on her while she spoke to Irene, assuring her that her foster daughter was in sight and fine.

The street buzzed with life in the late afternoon with people taking early dinners and shopping. Anna spotted a group of teenagers giggling as they walked along, no doubt spending their summer day outside and having fun. She sighed, wishing for the day she was old enough to go out on her own. Irene tended to be strict about her going out, even after school for ice cream and candy at the corner store with some classmates.

"It won't be too much longer," she whispered as her eyes followed the group of five girls. They paid no mind to a random boy with shoulder length hair who seemingly wasn't paying attention to them either as he brushed shoulders with one of the shorter girls.

The group halted and cast glares at the younger boy, who sheepishly grinned a quick apology before walking away. The girls snorted at the interruption of their perfect day, but continued walking a moment later.

Anna's eyes, however, stayed on the boy. After the girls had walked away, a smirk appeared on his face as his fist slid into his loose pocket on his cargo shorts. He spared a glance back to them before casually strolling away, adjusting his dark sunglasses on his nose.

Anna blinked at him, scrutinizing his every move. _He took somethin'_, she thought instantly, her eyes going back to the group of girls. They were just about to enter a shoe store when the girl he'd brushed into looked to her wrist to check the time. Anna watched with cynical delight as the girl realized that her watch was missing. _Now **that** was smooth_, she internally smirked.

She quickly checked to make sure that Val wasn't watching her before she swiftly threw the rest of her ice cream into a trash can nearby and darted out of sight in the direction of the boy. She dashed up to him and saw that he was eyeing up what she could tell was his next target.

"Hey!" she yelled, catching him by surprise as she planted herself behind him. He shoved his hands into his pockets and twisted around, staring her down through his dark sunglasses.

"What y' want?" he snapped. He didn't need some little girl cramping his style. He looked down at her, annoyed as he scrutinized her appearance; long auburn hair with strange white forelocks, curious gray-green eyes. She looked harmless enough, he assessed.

"Ah saw what ya did," she beamed. "It was really cool." She stuck her hand out. "Ah'm Anna," she greeted officially. "What's yoah name?"

He paused for a moment, staring at her hand before taking it. "Remy," he responded while shaking her hand. "How did y' see what I did?" He sounded offended.

Anna took a step closer to him, a gleam in her big green eyes. "Well, ta be honest Ah didn't see ya do it, but-" She leaned in closer, trying to see through his glasses.

Remy caught her eyes wandering and took a step back, uncomfortable with how close she'd gotten. "Den what did y' see?"

"Ah saw the aftermath," she giggled. "How ya grinned with pride an' jammed whatever ya got off her in yoah pocket." She glanced down to the mentioned pocket. "What _did_ ya get, anyway?"

He paused for a moment, wary of the thieves' code of conduct and how it was improper to boast of one's loot. One more look at her dancing green eyes reminded him that they were both just kids. _Screw de rules_. "De watch right off her wrist," he smirked as he pulled it out of his pocket.

Anna's eyes were wide with astonishment. "Ah thought so! That's **so** cool!" she squealed with delight. "How did ya do that?"

He shook his head. "Nu uh, _fille_. A t'ief doesn' share his tricks."

The smile instantly fell from her face and was replaced with a puffy lipped pout. "You're no fun," she huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Hey, dere are some t'ings dat I ain' 'llowed t' share. Took an oath," he insisted, smirking again.

"Oh, really? Figures," she snorted as she kicked a pebble on the ground. "So were you plannin' on doin' it again?"

"Oui. 'M out here practicin'," he said proudly. He nodded to a business man a fair distance away. "He's bound t' have somet'in' on him of value dat he'd miss."

Anna followed his gaze to a man standing by a trash can, reading a newspaper. "Ah really wanna know how ya do it," she murmured

"How's it feel t' want?" he asked, chuckling.

"You suck."

"Not m'fault dat I can' tell y'."

Anna dropped her arms to her sides. "Why do ya do it anyway? Don't ya feel bad foh stealin' things offa people?"

Remy shrugged, digging his hands into his pockets. "Jus' how I was brought up. It runs in de family."

"Yoah whole family steals?" Her eyes widened with intrigue again. It was as if her previous annoyance with Remy had disappeared instantly.

"Oui, but I didn' tell y' dat."

Anna grinned, placing one hand in the air and another one over her heart. "Cross mah heart and hope ta die, Ah won't."

Her grin was infectious and Remy found himself smiling with her. "So what are y' doin' here? Y' obviously not from N'awlins."

She shyly tucked a white forelock behind her ear. "How could ya tell?"

"De accent f' one. Y' sound like what _mon frère_ would call a Miss'ippi river rat," he laughed. "He be always goin' on 'bout dat accent. Didn' know what one sounded like till now."

Anna snorted indignantly. "So what if Ah am? 'Least Ah don' have some stupid swamp rat accent like you do. Besides, Irene always says Ah sound like a Southern belle in the makin'," she added defensively.

"Y' be de one talkin' weird,_ fille_. Y' in m' territory, non?"

"We'll jus' see how long ya last in Caldecott, mistuh," she muttered through pouted lips.

"…Where?"

"Caldecott County. That's where Ah live."

"Never heard of it. Not surprisin' dough," he laughed again, shaking his head. He felt his glasses shaking loose off his nose and took a moment to push them back on.

Anna saw the motion, but ignored it for the time being. "It's an itty bitty town on the river up past Baton Rouge."

"Wouldn' know anyt'in' 'bout 'itty bitty' towns, Anna," he smirked.

"There is a world outside this city, ya know," she snapped. Her arms crossed over her chest again.

"Dere ain' f' me, yet." Anna didn't catch the sigh at the end of his sentence. "'M tryin' t' enjoy it as much as I can."

"Jus' wait till ya get thrown inta somethin' ya can't handle. Ya think you're doin' mighty fine walkin' 'round here an' pickin' pockets, but jus' wait till somethin' bigger comes 'long."

His eyes narrowed behind his glasses. Her words were hitting a little too close to home. "Since when do y' care? I don' even know you," he reminded her with a hasty tone.

"Let's jus' say that ya shouldn't take life like this foh granted. Ah haven't been outta Caldecott ever an' the fact that Ah'm standin' here talkin' ta ya while Irene is sittin' so far away is the first bit of freedom Ah've ever had."

"So don' take it out on me," he retorted. "Jus' 'cause y' from some li'l back water town dat no one out of de area has heard of gives y' no reason t' get mad at me."

Anna gasped, taken aback by his tone of voice. Then, she sighed, realizing how worked up she'd gotten. It was true though – some days she felt like Irene would never let her see the world, let alone the neighborhood without answering to her foster mother. She always wondered if any one else had a difficult time growing up, or maybe it was just because Irene couldn't actually watch her. Her guardian would always have her friends coming down to visit, sometimes Val, other times it'd be Mallory Brickman or Ronnie Lake and they'd always seemed to take a particular interest in keeping an eye on the young girl, but Anna always assumed it was because Irene couldn't watch her herself. She always wondered why her actual mother had left her in the care of a blind woman, but Irene had explained to her before that she'd been the best of friends with her mother and it was her dying request that Anna be raised by Irene.

"Ah'm sorry," Anna finally muttered. "Guess Ah don't take kindly ta bein' called a river rat," she laughed shortly. "Ya did have a mean tone though."

"Dat's jus' how I am," he said, smirk gone. "Didn' mean t' offend y' dough." He stuck out his hand. "Truce?"

Anna stared at it for a moment, much like he had done when she'd done the same before. She smiled and took it, shaking it slightly. "Truce." She let go of his hand and ran her hand through her two-toned hair. "Ah have a question foh ya though."

"_Quoi_?"

"What's up with the sunglasses? They don't fit yoah face raht." She reached up to adjust them again for him, but he snapped out of her reach.

"What's up with y' hair? Aren' y' a li'l young t' be dyin' it?" he countered, hoping his smirk would diffuse the situation.

She shrugged, twirling a white forelock in her fingers. "Ah was born with it. Now stop avoidin' mah question."

"M' _père_ gave me dese sunglasses," he said smoothly with a shrug, though Anna could tell he was lying.

"Sure. Ah've never seen someone so careful with keepin' a pair of glasses on his face, an' Ah live with a blind woman who doesn't like me seein' her blank eyes."

Remy glanced around cautiously. She obviously had a point and by her tone of voice, he could tell she wouldn't just let it drop. Merdefilles_ be annoyin'!_ "C'mere," he said, gently taking her wrist and walking her towards a bench underneath a tree. Anna noted that the crowds amongst the area had begun to thin out as the afternoon dragged on and people settled in restaurants and headed home for dinner. Remy sat down and she followed suit, curious. "What do dey look like? De blind person's eyes?"

"Irene? They're kinda… white, Ah guess. They're kinda creepy because they don't focus on anythin' but… they're almost comfortin' too, ya know, jus' because Ah know her. Ah know that she wears the glasses more foh mah and other people's benefits more than her own because she doesn't like makin' others uncomfortable." She peered at him cautiously. "Why are ya askin'?"

"I have no idea why I'm doin' dis," he muttered, more to himself than her. "M' eyes… dey're different," he explained shortly, trying to find the words.

"So what? So's mah hair. Trust me, Ah get plenty made fun of 'cause of it," she sighed, her shoulders slumping forward. "Couldn't have normal brown or blonde or red hair like everyone else. Nope, gotta be the Skunk Head," she snorted, flipping her hair off her shoulder, frustrated.

"Kids can be mean, _fille_."

"Tell me 'bout it."

"T'ink y' an' me could write a book on it," he murmured as his hand fluttered close to his glasses.

"What makes ya say that?"

He dipped the sunglasses down to the tip of his nose, giving Anna a full view of what hide behind them. Piercing red irises. She stared with complete intrigue as she realized that in addition to the red, his eyes were also black where they should've been white. Her mouth slowly opened to say something, but Remy pushed the glasses back up on his nose and hid his eyes once again. "See what I mean?" he whispered.

"Ah do." She said nothing else, unsure of how to react.

"Y' freaked out, ain' y'?" His voice held an apprehension that Anna hadn't heard from him yet. She barely knew him and yet he'd revealed such a personal part of himself. Knowing that she should've been scared because she knew that was just not natural for someone to have eyes of that color, she couldn't find it in herself to stand up and run away.

"Can Ah see them again?" she asked instead.

"Why?"

"They're interestin'," she replied, looking at him right through the sunglasses.

"Nice way of puttin' it," he muttered as he reluctantly pulled the glasses down again.

Anna peered at him curiously, a small smile forming on her face. "Ah like them," she decided. She could tell he was uncomfortable even though he'd been the one to show her initially. She knew she first brought it up but he could've walked away from her then and told her to have a nice stay in New Orleans. "Ah think they're pretty."

"Sure y' do," he drawled sarcastically.

"What, no one's ever said that befoh?"

"Wouldn' say dat… but dat's usually m'_ tante_ sayin' dat or _mon frère's_ fiancée. Most people don' usually react dat way."

"Well," Anna started, her hand weaving through her hair anxiously. "Ah can see why people would be a li'l upset over 'em, but whatever." She shrugged. "Ah think they're cool. That's all that matters," she said smiling brightly. "Do you like 'em?"

"Sometimes," he said, slipping the glasses back on. "Dey're too sensitive t' de light f' my own good."

"So that's how you can get away with wearin' the glasses all the time… like a neat eye condition," she said, laughing. "Irene thinks Ah'm developin' some sort of skin condition, actually." She tugged at her long sleeves and skirt. "Ah think she's just crazy paranoid about me gettin' sunburned or somethin' because she says mah skin is really fair, but Ah just do what she says anyway."

"I was goin' t' ask y' if you were hot in dat," Remy admitted, noting that she looked comfortable for the most part in the thin cotton shirt and long khaki skirt.

Anna shrugged. "It's annoyin' sometimes but it's probably better this way. Ah'm used ta it."

"Guess y' could say I'm used t' wearin' de glasses an' de reactions I get."

She smiled. "Somethin' tells me you're not used ta the reaction Ah gave you."

He mirrored her smile. "Non, 'm not. It was a nice change, dough. I'll give y' dat."

"Anna?"

"Uh oh," she paled and turned around. Irene and Val were headed in the direction of Anna and Remy's bench.

"Y' _maman_?" Remy asked, glancing past her to the two women.

"Sorta. Mah adoptive momma died an' left me with Irene… so she's mah guardian now," Anna corrected. "The blind one anyway. The blonde one is a friend o'hers."

"I see. …Guess dis is goodbye den, _fille_," he said. Anna detected a hint of reluctance in his voice and only slightly felt better since she wasn't ready to leave either.

"Ah guess," she sighed, standing up. She nervously played with the hem of her shirt.

"Y' gon' be 'round here again?" He stood up with her, readjusting his sunglasses once more as he saw the women get closer.

She shrugged, flipping her hair off her shoulders. "Depends on what Irene wants ta do."

"Y' should."

"Why?"

"'Cause 'm tired of hangin' out wit' my stupid cousins. 'Sides," he smirked nervously, "y' pretty cool f'r a _fille_."

She giggled. "Thanks. Ah suppose Ah should say the same foh you, even though you can be mean," she teased.

Remy shrugged sheepishly, still smirking. He heard Irene calling out Anna's name. "Till we meet again, Anna," he said, bowing slightly at the waist.

Anna could feel her cheeks flush underneath the summer heat as she curtsied, following his playful lead. "Hopefully, Remy." She stood up fully, grinning from ear to ear. "Bye," she whispered as she turned and ran to Irene and Val. Remy watched her retreat to the two of them before slipping his hands into his pockets and walking away briskly.

Val eyed Remy's retreat as Anna ran up to them. "Who was that boy?"

Anna slid her hand into Irene's and began to walk away from where she and Remy had sat for so long. "Jus' some local boy. Ah saw him standin' alone an' wanted ta talk ta him," she explained, lying effortlessly.

"You should've said something of where you went," Val scolded, her voice turning too maternal for Anna's liking. "I didn't see you run off."

"She was fine, Val," Irene interjected, squeezing Anna's hand reassuringly. "Don't do that again though, dear. Val was worried once she realized she couldn't see you anymore."

"Ah know," Anna sighed apologetically. "Ah'm sorry. He was nice though!" she insisted. "Ah mean, foh a boy," she added hastily, turning her attention to her sandaled feet as they walked along the pavement.

Irene smiled knowingly, feeling Val's gaze on her. "I'm sure he was."

-----

"What are ya doin' here?" she hissed, a bolt of lightning bringing her back to the present. A more important question sparked in her mind, "What are ya doin' _with him_?"

"Anna, wait…"

"No!" She shook her head when she heard him say her birth name once again. "This doesn't make sense," she said as she took a step back from him, her gloved palm digging into her temple. Her mind was trying to assess the situation but her eyes just kept looking at Remy and regressing him to six years beforehand. Seeing him now, seeing him like _this_ was completely blowing her mind – much more than her powers and their effects ever had.

He paused to run a hand through his hair, which Rogue noted was much shorter than she remembered. "We can' talk here," he muttered.

"No shit we can't!" she yelled. She couldn't help the tone of her voice. It was either submit to whatever emotion of confusion and nostalgia she might have been feeling, or the shock and anger that coursed through her veins when she looked at him and imagined 'Magneto's Lackey' tattooed across his particularly handsome forehead. Being Rogue, she opted for the latter.

"Y' know, de funny t'ing is dat I t'ought it was you wit' de others b'fore…" Remy's voice remained neutral and casual, and Rogue couldn't help but fall victim to its smoothness. In another life, they'd been friends – she couldn't just turn her back on him now without giving him a chance. She then realized why he'd retreated in the way he had – the satisfied smirk when he didn't hit her with the card, but the uncertainty of knowing whether or not it was truly her.

Armed with the new understanding, she replaced the step she'd taken back before, bringing herself closer to him. "Remy… we can't do this. Ah don't even know how you're keepin' calm raht now!" She opened her mouth to say more, but then heard Kurt teleport nearby. "Ah… Ah hafta go."

"Wait," he said again, his eyes boring into hers. He reached out for her hand to keep her close but she recoiled the bare hand from him as if he would burn her. He watched as she cradled it close to her chest.

"Ah'm sorry," she whispered, turning her head around the corner as she heard Kurt calling for her. She spared a glance to Remy, who looked as confused as she felt.

"We'll meet again, _chérie_," he murmured under a clap of thunder before giving her a slight bow as he picked up and retracted his bo staff. His eyes held a sadness that Rogue didn't want to acknowledge. Even in those few short moments of seeing him again, she wanted to know him like she had that summer, to know why he wasn't in New Orleans, why he looked so weathered beyond his nineteen years of life, why he was working for the likes of Magneto. She looked at him, hoping her eyes told him all of that. With a curt nod from him, she knew he understood. And in his sad smile, she could tell he sought the same information from her.

"Ah hope so," she replied wistfully, her voice losing itself in the distance between them. She tried to give him a farewell smile before he jogged away, but fell short with a look filled with more sadness than she could've imagined.

Rogue watched his retreat, sighing. Suddenly, Kurt appeared beside her in a haze of gray smoke.

"You okay?" He panted, the odor of sulfur and brimstone surrounding them. "Jean sent me to find you."

She coughed, waving her hand by her face to dissipate the smoke. "Fine," she muttered shortly, tearing her eyes away from where Remy had slipped from her sight. "We should get back to the others," she suggested, forcing herself to get back on task. She pulled her glove from her belt and tugged it back on her shaking hand. Her eyes became hard once again and she willed her body to get back in the game.

Kurt nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. The next moment, they were gone.

---------------------------

Now here is where you come in, dear readers. I have an actual story to go along with this, but I figured I'd post it as such to see if you guys think it's worthy to continue. Otherwise, I'll just keep it as such for now and continue it later after _Street Livin'_ is complete. Not sure how well that'll work out, because anyone reading this who writes themselves know how rabid those plot bunnies can be… (smiles)

So you know how this goes, review! I'd love to hear what you guys think about this one.

Also, a couple notes that I feel the need to clarify:

(1). This point is now outdated, but yeah. I originally had the Rippers instead of the Assassins for the sake of staying within Evolution canon… but yeah, this story has grown beyond my control so I've decided to screw Evo canon. Sorry for any confusion to those who read the story in its first posting.

(2). I actually sat down and tried to plot out exactly where one could place Caldecott County since it doesn't really exist. I considered putting it right across the Mississippi Sound on the Gulf so it would be closer to New Orleans, but I really wanted it directly on the actual river instead of the Mississippi Sound. So, it's on the most southern tip of the Mississippi/Louisiana border along the river. I guess it works out because when I Google-mapped it, the place looks pretty empty… and I always assumed Caldecott to be a pretty rural, small town.

(3). Once again, I'm trying to follow Evolution as much as possible. Rogue was adopted by Mystique at the age of four, as per "Self Possessed." The way I see it, if Rogue had been adopted by a person named Raven Darkholme, Rogue would've put one and one together _awhile_ ago. Therefore, Mystique must have adopted her under another alias and then entrusted her to Irene. All the women mentioned (including Val Cooper) have been different aliases of Mystique's that I collected from (uncannyx-men dot net). Anna's last name, Hardwick, comes from Mystique's alias of Millicent Hardwick. The whole "death" of her is to explain why Rogue is initially in Irene's care and is left vague because Anna was too young to remember.

The next chapter of _Street Livin'_ will be up shortly. Much love to all of you! (muah)

Courtney.

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	2. Concealer

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Quick note: this story has grown out of my control. I blame you guys and your astoundingly motivational reviews. Tsk on you! (smile) Anyway, there are some changes to this chapter that are further explained afterwards, but I'm sure you won't mind too much…

-----

**Standing On the Edge of Summer**

_Concealer_

Y' know, I kinda feel bad. Pro'bly could've t'ought of anot'er way t' talk t' her instead of nabbin' her on her way home from school, but I couldn' wait any longer.

I mean, it has been t'ree weeks since I saw her – well, _really_ saw her. _Troi semaines_ since m' blast from de past, heh. 'Course, haven' been able t' take my mind off her. De chances of both of us bein' up here, in de same random suburb of New York; it has t' be more dan a coincidence. I have m'reasons, obviously, 'tween gettin' out of de engagement an' havin' de contract f' de time bein', but dat's jus' m'half of de story.

But dere was somet'in' so… lost in her eyes. I didn' remember dem bein' dat gray an' cloudy. Y' know how y' always hear dat _merde_ 'bout y' eyes bein' de windows t' y' soul? Don' t'ink I believed it till I saw her jump out from behind dat crate an' saw six years of unknown history hidin' in dose eyes.

Can' say I'm de type of person dat likes t' get too close t' people. 'M not de trustin' sort – pro'bly part of de t'ievin' lifestyle embedded in m' personality, heh. When it comes t' Anna, dough, it's jus'… different. One look in dose eyes of hers an' I want t' tell her everyt'in' she missed in m' life after she left dat summer. Den 'gain, guess she's always had dat effect on me.

-----

Anna continued to walk away from the bench with her hand in Irene's with Val flanking her guardian's other side. She glanced back fleetingly, Remy gone from her sight.

"You alright, dear?" Irene asked, sensing the reluctance in Anna's steps.

The younger girl turned forward again, her eyes down to her sandaled feet. "Ah'm kinda sad Ah won't get ta see him again. How often do we end up over here, ya know, let alone the chances of seein' him again in a city this big," she sighed loudly.

"Actually," Irene began. "Val and I were discussing what she should do with the rest of her time in the South before she has to head back up to Washington. She has a house on the outskirts of the city that she has rented – would you want to spend a few more weeks in New Orleans?"

Anna's line of sight snapped up from her feet to Irene and Val. "Are ya serious?" she squealed. She let go of her guardian's hand only to excitedly latch onto Val's arm. "Are ya sure that's alright?"

Valerie smiled gently. "If you'd like. It'd be fun having you two around while I finished up what work I have to do…" She trailed off, casting a glance to Irene. "You're always so full of life anyway, and I'm sure you would have a great time away from home for a little bit."

Anna beamed proudly. "Ah would! This is so excitin'! Do we have ta go home an' get mah things?" she asked Irene.

"Val has offered to fund a few things for this mini vacation, so to speak," Irene explained with a smile as Anna found her hand again. "We were thinking of doing some shopping after we grabbed some dinner." The trio began to walk again.

"Ah get a vacation **and** new clothes? This is the best summer ever!" Anna skipped happily between Irene and Valerie, her thoughts quickly slipping away from her new friend as her excitement took over.

-----

He watched her walk away for only a moment before turning briskly away. Suddenly, picking pockets faded from his mind and he made his way to the street, hoping to grab the next trolley home.

Of course, heading home meant hearing whatever his father had discussed with the High Council. A strong feeling of dread sunk in Remy's stomach and as he stepped onto the trolley, he hoped for another long moment of freedom like he'd had with Anna. He knew he would be kidding himself if he believed life would remain as easy as a summer day in the Quarter – but that didn't mean he couldn't wish for it to never stop.

As the trolley rolled along the road, Remy contemplated what his father could possibly tell him. '_Least Henri'll be dere wit' me. He won' let Papa get me in t' anyt'ing crazy, right? Who's t' say dis all deals wit' me, too? Could be somet'ing completely unrelated._

He snorted, blowing copper brown strands away from his nose. Even his internal voice sounded skeptical. _Y' heard de tone in Tante's voice – y' _père_ is gettin' y' mixed up in somet'ing dat y'll have no control over._

He sighed, his thoughts drifting further. _Wonder if Anna's has as much trouble wit' her adoptive parent as I do._

-----

"This will be your home for the next few weeks," Valerie announced as she opened the door to the large house. Anna ran inside, her eyes wildly absorbing everything they could. "Why don't you take your things upstairs while I help Irene?

Anna turned to look toward Val, her face bright. "Which room is mine?"

The blonde smiled warmly. "Second door on the right. I hope it's alright… this isn't the most kid-prepared place."

"Great!" Anna exclaimed, her hands squeezing her shopping bags. She fled from the living room and up the stairs, locating her room easily. Val was right – the room was bland for the most part. The only thing Anna saw that could amuse her was a TV and VCR across from the bed with a few sparse videos that didn't interest her in the least.

However, Anna's eyes instantly shot to the window. With a giggle, she drew open the curtains and saw a great expanse of green land, shining silver in the moonlight.

In the distance, she heard the splashing of the river against the bay rocks and the croaking of frogs in the night. _Val wasn't kiddin'… this place is practically on top of the river just like at home!_ She leaned against the window sill, a grin splayed across her face. _Ah wonder how different the river looks here than at home,_ she mused.

A dark shadow crossed over the grass and Anna's attention looked to the sky. Clouds enveloped the moon and thunder resounded in the distance. Anna's nose wrinkled as she recognized the sound. "Great," she muttered, pushing herself away from the window. She flopped on the bed with a loud sigh. "It'll probably rain all day tomorrow an' Ah won't get ta go down ta the river."

-----

"Do y' want anyt'ing t' eat, chil'?" Tante Mattie asked as she pushed open the storm door that led out to the veranda.

Remy sat in one of the porch chairs, eyes stone cold and fixated on the pouring rain. "_Non_," he replied softly without moving his head. He had pulled one of his legs against his chest and his chin rested on his knee.

Mattie stood in the doorway, wondering if she should say or offer anything else. Knowing how stubborn the youngest LeBeau could be, she opted to slide back into the house without another word. The storm door gently closed behind her with a barely audible snap.

Remy's eyes shifted over to the door for a moment as he listened for her retreat. He sighed with relief when the door clicked shut, closing his eyes for a moment before returning them to stare at nothing as he had before.

He remained in his still state until he heard footsteps thundering on the wood around the veranda. He listened to the steps, recognizing them as his brother's without hesitation. "Get caught in de rain, Henri?" he asked without moving his head once again as his brother rounded the house and passed Remy.

The older LeBeau son stopped and turned, his clothes completely soaked and dripping. "What was y' first guess?" He back-stepped and plopped into the chair next to Remy. "How long y' been sittin' out here?"

Remy shrugged, his gaze still on nothing. "Woke up, came out here. Papa hasn' been back since last night."

"Somet'ing tells me y' ain' too heartbroken over dat," Henri said, laughing uneasily. He ran a hand over his bald head, swiping off the raindrops that clung to his scalp.

Remy turned finally to glare at his older brother. "What was y' first guess?" he responded flatly.

Henri sighed, his attention shifting out to somewhere off in the distance. "Mercy wanted t' come over an' cheer y' up but I figured y' wanted t' be left alone."

"How are de weddin' arrangements goin'?" Remy asked, grateful for the change of subject.

"Dey're goin'," Henri replied with a shrug. "Gettin' close, dough. 'M excited, but not as excited as Mercy is y' can imagine. She tol' me her dress came in yesterday 'round dinner time an' she couldn' stop gushin' 'bout how pretty it is."

"Nice tease since y' ain' allowed t' see it."

"Tell me 'bout it. She would've kept goin' on 'bout it at lunch t'day if it hadn' been cut short… oh."

Remy's leg slid off the chair as he sat up and focused on his brother better. "What do y' mean, 'oh?'"

"We had a run in wit' Julien while in de Quarter. He was takin' dat snob _soeur_ o' his shoppin'. Y' know, de one dat's 'bout y' age?" Henri reached into his saturated pocket and dug around for a moment before revealing his pack of cigarettes.

"I heard o' her," Remy muttered, unhappy about the unconscious ability the Assassins seemed to have of invading all aspects of his personal life. They just couldn't stay out of his mind or any conversation, could they? "I t'ink she's a li'l younger dough. I 'member Theoren sayin' dat Julien's his age an' his sister's a year younger dan me."

"Regardless, de li'l punk had t' try an' make a scene wit' his sister in tow, so Mercy an' I got out of dere quick. De last t'ing we need is a situation wit' Marius' kids while we're tryin' t' make some sort of agreement 'tween de Guilds, _hein_?"

"Oui," Remy mumbled.

Henri watched as Remy's eyes grazed over the pack of cigarettes before returning back to focus on nothing once again. Henri felt awful for bringing up the Guild negotiations again, knowing it was the obvious reason for Remy's somber mood. He shook a cigarette out of the miraculously dry pack and placed it to his lips. He threw a look over his shoulder to the door. "Hey, Rem?"

His eyes didn't move. "_Quoi_?"

"Want one?" Henri shook the pack in Remy's direction.

Red eyes blinked at the pack before briefly glancing to the door. "Tante would kill me."

Henri smirked. "She won' have t' know, _frère_. 'Sides, y' actin' like y' haven' stole mine b'fore."

"Lapin did," Remy insisted, a small smirk tugging at his lips.

"Sure he did. Consider dis a freebie, den."

Remy's smirk became a lopsided grin as he took one of the cigarettes. Henri lit his own cigarette before leaning over to light Remy's. Remy took a small drag off the cigarette, the smoke catching in his throat briefly before sliding down into his lungs. Instantly, he began to felt more at ease as he exhaled, watching the smoke hang in the thick air.

The brothers sat in silence, each enjoying the simple pleasure of sitting together and sharing a quiet cigarette. Remy leaned back in his chair, his eyes drifting closed. The pattering of the rain against the roof relaxed him further and all thoughts of the last twenty-four hours began to escape his mind…

"Remy!"

His head snapped up and the half burnt cigarette fell from his fingers to the porch. Mattie stood in the doorway, glowering at him and Henri, though mostly at Henri. Everything in the glare said _you know better than that, Henri._

Knowing the glare all too well, Henri's booted foot slid over to Remy's cigarette and snuffed it out. "_Je regrette_, Tante."

She narrowed her eyes at him once more before turning her attention to Remy. "Y' _père_'s on de phone. Says he wants t' talk t' y'."

"Great," Remy muttered as he stood up, throwing a reluctant look to Henri.

His brother sighed sympathetically. "I'll talk t' y' later, _frère_."

Remy could only nod as he stepped past Mattie into the house.

-----

She skipped down the grassy hill, the sounds of the river beckoning her closer and closer. She'd been in New Orleans for two days and had yet to venture out to the river, thanks partially to the sudden rains that had come in over the area. However, Val had insisted they get settled in the house further, even though Anna and Irene were only staying for three weeks. Anna felt a strange vibe from Val – like she wanted Anna to stay near and spend time with her. Unsure of how to react to this, Anna was grateful to escape for the day. Irene had persisted to Val that Anna should explore the area more and her friend reluctantly agreed.

_Don't wanna know what her problem is_, Anna thought as her foot kicked through a wishie flower, sending its white seeds everywhere. She smiled, watching the flower disperse in the gentle breeze. They swirled around her, dancing up in the air. She giggled, hoping to find another one to repeat the action.

As her eyes grazed over the grass, her sight landed on a tree by the river with a tire swing. Wishie flowers forgotten, she grinned and headed towards the tree overlooking the river. She reached it in a matter of moments, flinging her body against its trunk. Her feet sank into the soft grass around the thick roots of the tree. She bent down and tugged her shoes off, discarding them in the grass nearby. Her toes curled in the short grass, reveling in the coolness of the dirt in the shade.

The rest of the air was thick with humidity, even in the late morning sun. It practically slid in her nose and down into her lungs like syrup. If she hadn't been raised in the thick Southern air, she probably would have had trouble breathing. She often found herself wondering how she would react to different climates – the warm deserts of the west coast; the cool dryness of the north. She craved to experience it all as her mind always drifted away from Caldecott County. Some days she felt she would never get to leave that small town. _Then again, look where Ah am now. Baby steps, Anna. You'll see the world soon enough._

She circled the tree, her hand dragging along the rough bark of the trunk. She laughed to no one, enjoying the feeling against her palm. Her finger twirled around a knot in the bark, flicking away the dry bits unconsciously.

A moment later, the tire swing swaying slightly in the gentle breeze caught her attention once again. With a giggle, her hand fell from the trunk. _Ah love swings!_ She thought excitedly as her hands grasped the tire.

-----

Remy kicked the dirt along the path, his mood still sour from the day before. Despite his few moments of relaxing with Henri, he couldn't take his mind off the entire situation. _I can' believe dey're makin' some big deal 'bout unitin' de guilds, as if dat's gon' t' fix all our problems._ His hands were shoved far down into his shorts' pockets, angrily clenched into fists. His eyes glowed fiercely behind his dark sunglasses. He hadn't been able to cheer up since his father had called him the day before.

"So much f' enjoyin' de rest of m'summer," he muttered as he plodded on. His bad moods always brought him to the river alone, far away from the LeBeau estate – at least on sunny days. Lapin had wanted Remy to head into town with him and their other cousin Theoren, but Remy insisted he wanted to be alone. Dealing with his prankster cousins was one of the last things he wanted to do.

What drove him crazy the most was how Jean Luc had put all the pressure on Remy. He had said that Henri had enough to deal with, seeing as how his wedding was only a month away and as Jean Luc had so eloquently put it, it was Remy's duty as a LeBeau to play a crucial role in such a monumental change in the guild.

_Duty m' ass._ _M' thirteen – I don' need t' deal wit' dis _merde He kicked a pebble in his path. _Not like I asked him t' adopt me in t' dis family!_

He trudged on, the ground progressively turning softer under his dirty sneakers. He looked up, seeing his favorite tree in the distance. It had branches that extended over the river that Remy enjoyed sitting on – it was such a great way to waste the day away. It was also fun to leap off the branches into the river. There was not a better way to escape the heat than that on a muggy Louisianan day.

He could feel a glimmer of relief when he saw his tree. He knew he could hide there for the day and forget about his family responsibilities. He was sure his father knew about the tree and how Remy sought refuge there – there wasn't a corner of New Orleans that the leader of the Thieves Guild wasn't aware of. Remy was grateful that the man hadn't bothered to seek him there; at least not yet, anyway.

As Remy grew closer to the tree, he noted that someone had already beat him there. Laughter filtered through the air as he saw the tire swing Henri had helped him hang the summer before sway in and out of his vision from behind the tree's trunk.

"Who t'inks dey can jus' steal m' tree," he thought aloud with a frustrated sigh. This was officially the last thing he needed – his one place of solace had been invaded.

He stamped up to the tree, intent on chasing the person away. He fixed his sunglasses on his nose and rounded the tree, and stopped. A girl sat in his tire swing, giggling madly.

As she spun around on the tire, Remy caught a glimpse of a shock of white hair on the girl that contrasted greatly with the rest of her dark auburn curls. He gaped at her, while she swung on, oblivious to his presence.

_Dis_ _is unbelievable._ He swallowed for a moment, grasping for his voice. When he regained the ability to speak, he tentatively called out, "Anna?"

Her feet immediately planted on the ground to anchor herself down before she cautiously turned around. Her gray-green eyes were wide with apprehension until they settled on Remy. Suddenly, they were bright again and she beamed with joy. "Remy!" she cried happily. "Ah can't believe you're here!"

"_Moi_? I **live** here. What are y' doin' here, River Rat?" he asked teasingly as he took a few steps towards her.

She glared at him for a moment before twisting herself on the tire in the direction of Val's rented home. "Irene's friend has a house down here foh the summer. Irene an' me are stayin' with her foh a couple of weeks." She pointed up the hill. "It's that big red colored one up that way."

Remy followed the direction of her finger. "Ah, one of dose houses," he commented.

Anna dropped her hand. "What do ya mean?"

"_Mon frère_ is always sayin' how dose houses are too close t' comfort f' us. Says dey're government owned or somet'ing like dat."

Anna shrugged, lifting her feet off the ground so she could swing slightly again. "Val does work in Washington foh the rest of the year 'parently. Ah have no idea why her business has her comin' down here, but whatever. It gets me outta Caldecott foh a couple weeks."

_A couple weeks?_ "Y' gettin' some more of dat freedom y' were talkin' bout," Remy noticed, glancing past her shoulder. "Don' see dat blind _maman_ of yours."

She pumped her legs slightly to pick up speed on the swing. "She wanted me ta go out today. Val's been keepin' me cooped up with her foh the last few days while it rained. She's weird though – Irene has these headaches a lot so she'll go off to be alone in her room. She's been havin' them non stop since we got here and then Val is always raht there, as if Ah need a replacement momma while Irene tries ta feel better. This ain't the first time it's happened either."

Remy leaned his back against the trunk of the tree. "Sounds annoyin'."

"Oh, it is. All of Reenie's friends are like that with me when they come to visit."

"Mus' be nice dough, havin' someone watchin' over y' like dat," he responded in a soft voice.

Anna stopped swinging again to look at him directly. "Ah guess so… Ya okay? Ya seem kinda down." She began to climb out of the tire. "Is it because Ah'm hoggin' the swing?" she asked innocently.

Remy smiled as he stood up straight and walked over to her, halfway out of the tire. "_Non_, it's not dat at all," he said, his hand grazing the tire. "M' _père_ is jus' being a jerk recently, dat's all."

"Oh… Ah'm sorry. Parents can be crappy like that sometimes. It doesn't matter if you're adopted or not, huh?"

Remy dropped his hand from the tire dejectedly. "Didn' tell y' dat I was 'dopted too, _non_?"

"Ya didn't. Imagine that – we've got another thing in common!" she replied cheerfully, hoping her lightheartedness would rub off on him.

"_Quoi_?"

"Well," she ticked off on her fingers. "We're both adopted, both of us have fake conditions that we wear stupid things foh." Remy chuckled at that one and pulled off his sunglasses, as Anna tugged her long cotton pants and shirt sleeves off her damp skin only to have it stick to her again a moment later. "Plus, we're both different an' people make fun of us foh it."

"Yeah, sounds like somet'ing worth bondin' over," he drawled sarcastically as his hand found the tire again.

"Oh, come on – ya even said yaself that Ah was pretty cool foh a girl!"

"So what if I did?" he smirked. "Doesn't mean I want ya usin' m' tire swing."

"Ah told ya Ah'd get off…"

"Don'." And with that, Remy gave the tire a decent heave, sending Anna swinging and twisting every which way. She shrieked in alarm at first before she caught the grin on Remy's face. She beamed herself and allowed the swing's rope to take her in any direction Remy happened to continually push her in.

She weaved through the air as she clung onto the swing. Remy stepped around the swinging radius cautiously and with an ease that Anna noted and admired. _It's almost like he's dancin' around me_, she mused to herself. He shoved the swing in one direction and agilely jumped out of the way before she could crash back into him.

Suddenly, he stopped skipping around her and planted his feet on the ground. Realizing that she was going to fly right into him, she squeaked and braced herself for the impact as she imagined Remy falling backwards into the trunk of the tree with the strength of the tire's swing.

The swing smashed into him, Anna gasping as Remy took the brunt of the force. "Ohmahgawd!" she shrieked. "Are ya okay?"

Remy's stance had only moved back a few inches as he held fast to the swing. "'M fine, _fille_. Relax," he said, a lazy smirk splayed across his face. "Y' worry too much."

"Ah thought Ah was gonna hurt ya!" she cried defensively as she pulled herself out of the tire. Remy let go of the swing once she'd freed herself and it swung aimlessly once again. Anna stomped up to him, her small frame barely coming past his shoulders. She glared up at him, sticking a finger in his chest angrily. "Don't do that again, Swamp Rat. Ah don't care if ya know what you're doin'!"

He hovered over her, his smirk still present. "Did ya really think I was goin' t' let y' hurt me, Anna? Why y' so angry?"

Her glare remained for a moment and then diminished as her face relaxed to a neutral stare. "Ah didn't…" Her finger dropped from his chest. "Ah didn't want ta hurt ya an' then have ya never talk ta me again."

He stared at her disbelievingly. "Y' serious? Even dough I was de one who practically threw m'self in front of de tire?"

She nodded and shrugged, her gaze falling from him. "Can't say Ah'm used ta hangin' 'round other people, Remy," she said softly as she took a step back from him. "Ah told ya, freedom doesn't come often, an' neither do friends."

"Y' were afraid dat I'd get mad at y' an' go away?"

She nodded again ever so slightly. "Ah suck at makin' friends, okay? Ah'm sorry."

Remy watched as she shyly tucked a piece of white hair behind her ear, her gray-green eyes focusing on a grassy patch by her right foot. _Dis_ fille_ has problems… She got all defensive 'cause I was playin' 'round wit' her. If I would've gotten hurt, it would've been m'fault, obviously._

Unsure of what to do seeing as how he didn't have many friends of the female variety, Remy opted to playfully shove her arm, his smirk returning. She looked at him again, confused. "What?"

"Why don' we go get somet'in' t' drink?" he suggested. "'M dyin' of thirst."

Anna stared at him, her eyes turning inquisitive. "Ya sure?"

"_Mais oui_. Y' _maman ou son amie_ any good at makin' lemonade?" He began to walk ahead of her to Val's house in the distance.

Anna froze for a moment before snatching her shoes off the grass and jogging up next to him. "No," she said, keeping pace with him. "But Irene makes decent iced tea."

He pulled his glasses out of his pocket and replaced them on his nose. "Iced tea it is, den," he decided, beaming down at her.

Her smile matched his. "Ah guess so."

-----

Ah haven't been able ta shake this damn feelin' foh weeks. Ya think it bein' the end of the day an' all, Ah'd be thrilled ta get away from Bayville High. It doesn't matter that we've been accepted back there – people still treat us like garbage.

If it's not one thing, it's another though. Ah mean, yeah, school's difficult enough but goin' home ta a hole in the ground just reminds me of everythin' that led up ta where we are now. It's a constant reminder of what happened, what could've happened, what could still happen.

It still haunts me, sittin' in that cell in Area 51. We weren't there long… Ah mean, they'd interrogated Logan repeatedly after they chiseled us outta those green… blobs, foh a lack of a better word. They'd almost gotten Freddie out by the time the alarms were goin' off an' we had a chance to escape. Luckily Evan's accuracy has only been gettin' better or Logan might've ended up with a pierced side instead of a broken shackle. After he'd gotten free, he pretty much went feral on the jerks an' freed us. He an' Mr. McCoy were quite the team, beatin' up the military personnel an' lockin' 'em up in that cage. It still makes me smirk thinkin' of the looks on their faces.

Of course, the smile just fades when Ah realize Ah'm in the same room as Mystique an' the Brotherhood an' we're workin' with them, again. They had ta free Blob, so Ah can understand that, but standin' anywhere in the vicinity of that woman makes mah skin crawl. Didn't help when Ah found out she'd kidnapped the professor an' hidden him from us, not ta mention destroy the place Ah've called home foh the last two years. The bitch was lucky all Scott did was lock her in Area 51 ta be taken by the military. What he really should've done was let me absorb her an' find out where she'd taken Xavier.

Not that dwellin' on that'll matter now, or then, really. We had ta focus on survivin' without our teachers, since Ororo an' Mr. McCoy headed ta Washington to help plead our case. Logan kept an eye on us while we hid in _a damn cave_ while the military found us an' shot us with friggin' missiles, but hey, if Ah look on the bright side, Ah got to ride Logan's motorcycle foh a little bit in there. Ah can say it was almost worth bein' chased out of that convenience store just so Ah could see that look on his face when he realized that Ah can handle his bike nearly as well as he can. Then again, if Ah hadn't been ridin' like a bat out of hell, Ah could've shown him that Ah'm pro'bly just as good as him. Once Ah get mah hands on another bike, Ah'm racin' that man an' we'll see who comes out victorious.

Didn't really get the chance ta challenge him ta a race since he ran off durin' the whole "military firin' on us" bull. Then, if things couldn't possibly get any worse, Juggernaut came outta **nowhere** an' startin' beatin' the crap out of this random dam. Scott insisted we go to the rescue since that's what the professor would've done, even though we were all pretty sure we'd just be seen as the enemy again an' get ridiculed even more.

Once Juggernaut realized we were there, he started beatin' the crap outta us, but we pulled through even though Scott almost got his head crushed, among other injuries we sustained. Luckily though, Ah was able ta absorb Cain an' use his super strength against him. An' the most important part, he knew the professor's location, which was conveniently the holdin' cell that Mystique had freed Juggs from. Turns out the dumb lug head was useful for once.

It was such a morale lifter ta have Xavier back. Ah mean, we'd survived without him obviously. We survived a lot more than we give ourselves credit foh, Ah'm sure, but somethin' about havin' the Prof back gave us that sense of accomplishment an' wholeness that we knew was missin' when he was gone.

So, hooray for our awesome teamwork skills! We found the professor an' now we're… livin' in a hole in the ground while the institute is bein' rebuilt. Ah don't even want ta recall everythin' that happened with the Brotherhood an' school an' the board meetin' and ugh upon _ugh_. It was so much easier ta sit in the back in school an' just be ignored foh bein' the little Goth girl who wanted no one near her. Now Ah have ta deal with the damn snickerin' an' the insults ta boot.

An' as if that weren't enough, every time mah head stops thinkin' about all the things that have happened in the last three weeks, it starts thinkin' about _him_.

Her sudden encounter with Remy may not have held primary concern in her head all things considered, but whenever she'd have a moment of peace, Rogue's mind would torture her with that sad stare that she remembered so well, but didn't recognize at all.

She didn't tell anyone about how she knew him before her time with the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Whenever someone questioned her aloof behavior, she blamed it on Juggernaut's lingering presence in her mind and she was usually left alone after that by most of her teammates. Xavier offered to help her sort the memories so they wouldn't be a burden, which she declined, insisting she could handle it on her own. Xavier knew better than to question her convictions, so he let her be.

The only person she worried about figuring out everything was Logan. The man's nose practically doubled as psychic powers! If she walked by him with a hint of Remy on the brain, he could pick up on her confusion and irritation immediately. Thankfully for her, he respected her privacy enough to not push her for answer, but she knew he was keeping a special eye on her.

"Jus' what Ah need," she muttered, adjusting her book bag strap on her shoulder. "Special attention when all Ah want is ta be alone."

She sighed, her head hanging low. A stray white lock of hair annoyingly hung in her line of sight, but she made no motion to move it. Gray clouds filled the sky, matching her mood perfectly. With a slight glance upwards, she internally mused _ya_ _would've thought Ah was the one in tune with the weather instead of Ororo_.

She'd been walking down a still street of Bayville, where the only occupants had been those rushing into the small café to grab a quick drink or those who ducked into the bookstore for some quiet time with a few good novels. Rogue found herself on this street more often over the last week, grateful for the lack of people. _The less people who can look at me an' recognize me as one of the mutants on TV, the better_. It was a bit out of the way from the usual walk home, but in Rogue's eyes, it was well worth the extra time.

Her gaze shifted to the café, wondering if she should go in and grab a mocha latte as a treat to herself for making it through another day of the hell that is known as Bayville High. She contemplated it for only a moment, unable to resist the urge of caffeine running through her veins. Her foot stepped off the curb to cross the narrow road but she froze when she caught a flash of light in her peripheral vision.

Her foot retreated back onto the curb as she curiously turned to the source. Her eyes scanned the area quickly, but saw no activity amongst the short alley between the antique store and tobacco shop. She blinked, wondering what had caused the light burst. Looking up to the sky, she noted that the sun had peeked out temporarily from the heavy gray clouds. _Must've reflected off the window_, she decided with a slight shake of her head. She smiled at her reflexive anxiousness and turned back to her task of crossing the road.

Suddenly, an arm snaked around her waist and tugged her back from the road and into the alley roughly. She gasped in alarm as a gloved hand covered her mouth. She stiffened her body to attack, but was stopped by a prick to her neck. Her eyes widened at the sensation of whatever was injected into her and she opened her mouth to scream into the leather guarded hand, but her vision swam with stars and darkness before a syllable could be uttered.

She slumped in his arms, her head lolling back against his shoulder. He slipped the syringe into his pocket, his eyes glowing with a reluctance he hoped she'd understand.

"_Je regrette, chere_," he whispered softly as he gently gathered her in his arms.

-----

I 'magine she won' be too t'rilled when she wakes up, but I did make sure she was comfortable an' all. 'M not used t' feelin' nervous. _Mon Dieu_, I'm de cool, collected Ragin' Cajun. Henri used t' tell me I could get out of any situation, especially wit' any _femme_. An' here 'm worried, an' hopin' dat Anna won' want t' kill me too much…

-----

Remy had started to deal his fifth game of addiction solitaire when he heard a groan erupt from the bed. Instantly, the playing cards fell from his hands and fluttered to the table in a haphazard mess.

"Anna?" His eyes jetted over to the bed, checking to see if she was actually awaking.

She groaned again, her hand dragging across her face like a sloth and dropping beside her head like an anvil. She faintly heard a voice travel across the room, though whoever said it or what he said, she didn't know. Her eyes failed to open completely, protesting against the dim light on the other side of the room. Her lips moved to ask who was there, where she was, but her lips fumbled against each other unintelligibly.

Panic began to set in. First thoughts – Trask had managed to escape from jail and had abducted her again, to finish whatever experimentation on her that he didn't get the chance to do before she and the others were rescued. Her limbs felt like anchors and hardly reacted when she willed them to move. Her mind pounded as she tried – and failed – to remember how she got where she was.

_Ah'm_ _in an unknown room. **Check**._

_There's at least one person in here with me. Also unknown. **Check**._

Her fingers itched. _Gloves are still on. **Check**._

_Ah'm_ – her eyes scraped down what she could of her body – _wearin_' _all mah clothes an' Ah'm tucked in ta some random bed?_

Slowly, her mind began to catch up. Her head squirmed and fell against fluffy pillows. She was… comfortable?

Remy tried again. "Rogue?" He hoped she would respond to that name better. Cautiously, he got up from his seat at the desk, cards falling from his lap to the carpeted floor. The sedative he'd used on her would wear off slowly, but he knew once she felt she had the chance, she would bolt out of the bed and out the door.

"Where…" her voice scratched past her throat. She swallowed, trying to get the coarseness to smooth out. She tried again, "Where am Ah?" Much better, even though she still sounded as if she were croaking.

"_Chére_? Y' alright?" A weight settled on the foot of her bed. She narrowed her eyes at the figure, but he was nothing more than a shadow against the poor lighting of the room.

"_Chére_?" she repeated, her voice small. Slowly, her mind began to recognize the word, the accent, the voice. Suddenly, it hit her. _No._

"Anna, 'm sorry f'-"

"Remy?" she squeaked. Reflexively, she tried pushing herself up out of her prone position, tried pulling herself away from where he sat. Unfortunately, her lead legs didn't want to respond.

_Here it is_, Remy sighed softly. He chose his words carefully. "Rogue," he said gently. The name felt foreign on his tongue each time he used it, but somehow he knew she was more comfortable with it. _Had not'ing t' do wit' how her file had 'unknown' f' her real name,_ non he thought sarcastically.

She glared at him, her eyes focusing on the red orbs glowing against the shadow. Her vision began to adjust to the dim lighting and she could make out his facial features, his hair falling across his forehead, the collar of his shirt. She looked at him and searched for some sort of hostility.

"What does he want with me?" she demanded once she'd found her voice again.

He blinked in surprise. "_Quoi_? _He_?"

"Magneto," she spat. "Where did he have you take me? What does he want with me?"

_Oh great, she t'inks de boss man is behind dis?_ "Dis has not'in' t' do wit' him, _p'tite_," he explained gently. "**_I_** did dis."

Rogue blinked against the darkness. "_You_ drugged me an' brought me ta some random…" Her eyes floated around the room to find a word for where she was at.

"Motel," he finished. "Figured takin' y' t' my apartment wouldn' be de best of ideas at dis point." He couldn't stop the smirk that slightly curved his lips when her mouth drew up tightly in anger. He hid his smirk as soon as it appeared though.

Rogue was about to cry out indignantly about how kidnapping her wasn't the best of ideas either, but a bolt of lightning erupted from the sky, silencing her instantly. Her face turned away from Remy and she realized that it was pouring outside. The rain pelted the window mercilessly. Her muted sense had failed to pick up the drumming on the pane of glass. Her hand, feeling lighter, fluttered up to her temple. Now that she could hear the rain, it hammered against her mind.

Remy noted her sudden mood change and saw her eyebrows knit in pain. He got up from the bed and reached for something on the nightstand to Rogue's right. She turned her head back to him and watched as he opened a bottle of water.

"Take dese," he instructed as his partially gloved hand revealed two small blue pills in his palm.

"Why should Ah?" she spat. "Ya already drugged me."

"Dey're t' counteract de effects of de sedative," he insisted.

Her gazed shifted from the palm of his hand and up to his face. She looked at him, searching for some hint of deception in the demon-like eyes. She knew what he was capable of doing in the realm of lies. He'd taught her his best tricks of dishonesty all those summers ago.

Her hand fell from her head, relenting, and she offered it palm up to Remy. He gingerly dropped the pills into her awaiting hand and then handed her the bottle of water next.

Quickly, she took a swig of water and threw her head back, popping the pills into her mouth. She swallowed it all in one gulp.

"Dat should only take a few minutes t' take effect," Remy explained.

Rogue nodded, taking another wary sip of water. "How did ya get this stuff?" she asked in a small voice.

"Mags has a side hobby of genetics an' pharmaceuticals, 'parently. Came 'cross it when I was searchin' his office."

She grimaced, remembering the memories of Kurt as a baby and the castle in Germany. She took another quick sip of her water, hoping the bile in her throat would go away and that Remy didn't catch her discomfort. "Ya just happened ta find them in his office?" she asked disbelievingly.

He smirked and a pang of nostalgia hit her hard, memories of Kurt forgotten. Remy's smile hadn't changed and surprisingly, she found comfort in it. "Well," his voice brought her back to the conversation, "when y' start lookin' f' one t'ing, y' happen t' stumble 'pon ot'ers."

"An' he didn't mind ya borrowin' it, obviously," she snorted.

"Anna, since when do I 'borrow' t'ings?" He caught her slight cringe as he spoke and his perma-smirk faded. _Dammit, I called her Anna_. "I didn'-"

"It's fine," she said sharply. "Ah… Ah just haven't heard anyone say it in years, save foh the few times you've said it. Irene even stopped callin' me that," she explained, her voice softer.

"So y' 'Rogue' now?" She nodded, her face neutral. "Well den," his smirk returned as he bowed. "Gambit at y' service, _chére_."

Suddenly she laughed, and Remy froze. She had yet to do it in his presence those last two meetings and he most certainly wasn't expecting it now. However, the laugh was just so… real to Remy. It was a short chuckle that brought the slightest of pink to her pale cheeks that was only faintly visible in the weak light. She didn't look at him when it escaped her lips, but he could tell her eyes lit up with the small action.

"It's funny," she began, tucking her hair behind her ear. A lazy smirk remained on her face.

"What is?" Remy asked, taking a seat in the arm chair by the bed.

Silently thankful for the new distance, Rogue continued. "The two of us… where we are now… Ah mean, 'Gambit?'" She laughed again, covering her mouth in attempts to hold it in. "Ah want ta be mad at ya foh knockin' me out an' bringin' me God knows where, but all Ah can do is laugh."

"Really now, _chére_?" An amused smirk played in his eyes. "Good t'ing f' me den 'cause I was plenty sure y' were goin' t' beat m' ass once y' woke up," he admitted with a snicker.

She batted her eyes at him. "Ah'm the least of yoah problems at this point, Swamp Rat," she teased. "But Ah'm sure ya might've picked up on that since ya know the name Rogue. Ah take it ol' Buckethead has files on all of us?" she guessed.

"_Oui_, but I only skimmed de ot'ers t' be honest wit' y'. I was kinda lookin' f' someone in particular… y' might know her dough, _chére_," he said with that damn lopsided grin that Rogue wasn't sure she should love or hate after all this time.

_He certainly perfected it over the years_, she thought with an internal smile.

"I was lookin' f' dis _fille_, 'bout so high," he held his hand about five feet above the ground, "long striped hair… annoyin' river rat accent…" he added in a quieter voice.

"Ah heard that!" Rogue cried, throwing one of her pillows at him. "You're one ta talk, Cajun!"

He snatched the pillow midair and sat it in his lap, leaning into it. "_Oui_, we both be de ones wit' de weird accents now, _hein_?"

With a smile, she pushed the blankets off her torso and kicked them off her legs. Remy watched as she stood up and smoothed back the sheets again. She sat herself upon the bed again, leaning pillows against the headboard. "Speak foh yoahself," she said once she got comfortable again. "Ah live with a German elf, a Midwestern valley girl, an' an annoyin' city boy; mah accent ain't that outta place."

"If y' gonna put it dat way den, _chére_, I've got a psycho Australian an' a tight lipped Ruskie, not t' mention a sociopat'ic cat man from Canada," Remy countered, eyes glowing.

She opened her mouth to laugh, but instead her face fell neutral and Remy knew what was coming. "So… how _did_ ya manage ta find yoahself up here? Ah mean, with the likes of Sabretooth an' Magneto?"

"Dat's a long story, Anna," he sighed, leaning back in the chair.

Rogue's head dropped as she leaned back against the pillows she'd propped up. "Ah know all about long stories, Remy." She sighed deeply, and for the next minute or so a silence settled between the two. They both stared down – Rogue at her hands, Remy at the floor. Rogue could feel Remy watching her in the corner of his eyes. If she was honest with herself, she'd admit to herself that she was doing the same to him.

She opened her mouth to break the silence when she heard a slight vibrating from the floor. "What the – oh shit." She scrambled off the bed and dove for her school bag. Remy had neatly placed it by her black sneakers by the foot of the bed.

"Dat t'ings gone off 'bout fifty times now… Figured it best if I didn' answer it," Remy said idly as Rogue tore her bag apart for her ringing cell phone. She located it and flipped it open to see "Kitty Cell" on the bright screen. With an angry sigh, she clicked the "accept" button on the phone and pressed it up to her ear, already prepared for the onslaught of shrieks. "… Hello?"

"_Rogue!_" Remy winced from across the room, putting finger up to his ear. He threw Rogue a sympathetic smile as she tried to calm her friend down.

"Hey, Kitty… No, no, Ah was studyin' in the library." Her eyes widened and she glared at Remy. "Yes, foh the last **five **hours. Mah phone was on silent… Ah just happened ta pull it out now ta look at the time… No, Ah didn't see the twenty missed calls." The glare deepened. Remy shrugged sheepishly. "…Am Ah comin' home now? Ah don't know." Her glare disappeared and was replaced by pleading eyes. Her hand slipped over the mouth piece. "Help!" she mouthed.

"_Mr. Logan is, like, about ready to come out and get you!_"

Rogue's hand flew off the phone. "**No!**" She all but shrieked into the phone. "That won't be necessary… No, no, Kitty, tell him Ah'm fine. Kitty, you tell him raht now ta get off his motorcycle. What do ya mean he already left? Dammit, Kitty!" She snapped the phone shut and threw it back into her bag.

She gave Remy the calmest glare she could muster. "Ah have ta go. Right.Now." She grabbed her shoes and hastily shoved her feet into each one.

"Wolverine, eh?" Remy asked casually as he stood up from the chair.

Rogue threw her bag over her shoulder. "Yes, Wolverine. An' if Ah don't get out of here an' find a way ta get yoah scent off me, you're pro'bly as good as dead – at the very least maimed. You're lucky he didn't get to face off against you befoh the Sentinel so he would just think Ah was out with some random boy."

Remy's pace didn't quicken. "So he's de fatherly type, _non_?"

She stopped to blink at him. _What the hell is he waitin' foh?_ "Yes. The overly protective an' _violent_ fatherly type," she explained in a flat tone, hoping he would finally get the idea that Logan was not a man to be messed with.

Remy smirked. "So I guess dat cuts boyfriends out of de picture."

"Like that would matter anyway," she muttered stuffily. "Can we please get goin'!"

He sighed, knowing their evening had come to an end even before it could actually start. They hadn't even done anything – hadn't caught up by any means. If anything, she was more a mystery. However, Remy always believed in finding a silver lining to any cloud. This particular upside related to Rogue not killing him for kidnapping her, which he had thought would be a given thing. Then again, she did say that the Wolverine guy wouldn't hesitate to hurt him either. Remy was suddenly very glad that he hadn't taken Rogue to his apartment; the less of a trace any of him that the X-Men could get their hands on, the better.

"How did ya get me here?" Rogue asked, already at the door.

"Borrowed a car," he replied casually, walking ahead of her as he pulled on a brown duster.

"Ya don't – raht." She rolled her eyes.

"Couldn' exactly carry y' unconscious on m' bike," he teased as he strolled over to a blue Mustang convertible. "C'mon."

She was about to retort on the unconscious comment when she squinted her eyes through the storm and got a good look at the car. "This looks like…" she walked out slowly from the room into the pouring rain.

"_Chére_, it's rainin', c'mon." He stood by the passenger side, ready to open the door for her.

"This is Duncan Matthews' car," she pointed and smiled, her hair sticking to the sides of her face. The rain tumbled down unrelenting and all Rogue could do was laugh. "Ah can't believe ya stole this! How did ya manage that?" she squealed behind her hand.

Remy stared at her for a moment, forgetting the rain. She always tried to hide her smile, he noticed. He abandoned the car's door, suddenly in front of her. "_Chére_," he said, his face dipping down low to hers, "a t'ief doesn' reveal his tricks, 'member?" he replied huskily.

Rogue could feel his breath warm on her face underneath the cool spring rain. She looked up in his eyes and it dawned on her how close they really were. If she'd been wearing heels, their noses would've been touching. She realized that they'd been standing this close only twice before – once three weeks ago and once…

"We should get goin', _non_?" Remy took a step away from her as suddenly as he'd been in front of her. She felt the cool rain pelt on her face, unwillingly feeling his warmth being washed away. He left her standing there, retreating back to the car.

She watched him slip into the driver's seat, remembering that she'd been the one so anxious to leave only minutes before. She wanted nothing more than to stand there in the rain, his eyes boring into hers with such an intensity that she couldn't even begin to describe in words. Eyes that she knew should've scared her in some way, but she couldn't help but be intrigued by and now, so many years later, lost in.

"Raht," she whispered numbly into the rain, knowing he couldn't hear her. She trudged to the car, her mind reluctantly drawing forth the ramifications of this little meeting were she to be discovered.

She slipped into the passenger seat, her wet clothes squeaking against the leather interior. Remy was busy playing with some wires under the steering wheel. "'M jus' gonna drop y' back off at de school. I 'magine Wolvie would go dere first, eh? Plus, I need t' pick up m' bike."

"You left yoah bike there?"

"Covered up, o' course. Didn' expect a rainstorm like dis, but good t'ing I took de precaution. 'Sides, like I said, I was only borrowin' dis car. Need t' drop it back off in de parkin' lot," he smiled as the car sparked to life.

"Thought the great Gambit doesn't borrow things," she said snootily. She ran a hand through her hair, squeezing the excess water out onto her sweater. _Here's hopin' the rain washed away any trace of Remy or the room on me._

"I do what's necessary, _chérie_," he commented idly as the car came to life.

"Ya didn't randomly pick this car, did ya?" she asked, pulling the seatbelt over her shoulder and securing it at her hip.

"Couldn' help but notice dat dis guy was givin' you an' y' friends trouble. Figured a day wit'out his car would wise him up a bit." He pulled out of the parking spot effortlessly and turned out of the motel's parking lot.

"Wait… how would ya know he's been givin' us trouble? Have you been spyin' on me?" she asked incredulously.

Remy shrugged with a smirk, keeping his eyes on the rainy road ahead of them. "Let's jus' say dat seein' y' again once wasn' enough."

"Oh." She felt her cheeks heat up. Running her wet gloved hand through her damp hair, she shook it loose in front of her face so he couldn't see the pink glow on her pale skin. "Ya know that pro'bly won't help matters," she murmured. "He'll think one of us did it."

"I'd like t' see him pin dis on dat fearless leader o' yours."

"So Ah guess you've seen how they fight?"

"Caught a li'l here, li'l dere. Truth is, dat Cyke guy would be de last person t' steal a car, so I doubt y' got anyt'ing t' worry 'bout."

"How would you know?"

He glanced sideways at her. "How would I know what?"

"That Scott wouldn't steal the car?"

"Please, _chére_. I've heard stories 'bout dis guy an' de, let's say, stick up his ass."

"From who, Pietro? Like he's a good source," she spat. "Ya've never even met Scott." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from Remy. _How dare he!_

"What y' care so much for? 'M jus' playin'."

"Whatever, _Gambit_," she snorted.

"_Quoi_? What's y' problem?" He slowed the car down and pulled over. Once he came to a stop, he turned in his seat and saw that she was avoiding his gaze. She stared out the window, annoyance twitching at her lips. _Quicksilver did say somet'in' 'bout a li'l crush… but it can' be true. I mean… she has better taste den dat, doesn' she?_ He watched her for another minute. He could tell she was irritated further than him just insulting one of her teammates; it went deeper than that. It really only pointed to one thing. "_Merde_, y' _do_ have a thing f' him, don' y'!"

Her head whipped around, gray-green eyes ablaze. "Ah do not," she replied evenly through her teeth after glaring at him for a moment.

"Den what y' so upset for?" he asked softly.

She stared at him, her glare seething with anger. "Because ya don't know a damn thing about anythin' goin' on. So what if that _traitor_ told ya that Scott happens ta be a li'l anal retentive with the whole leadership role he's got goin' on with us? He held us together when the professor was gone an' when _your_ boss, might Ah add, revealed our existence to the world. Ah'm sorry if Ah'm not too keen on someone from the other side is judgin' one of mah friends based on some opinion of a cocky ass like Pietro."

He returned her stare, his red on black eyes neutral. "Y' t'ink of me as y' enemy, Anna?"

"Don't call me that," she huffed, tearing her eyes away from his, her gaze returning to her window. "Ah need ta get back ta the school."

"'M not drivin' till y' tell me."

"Then Ah guess Ah'll have ta walk!" Her hand hastily pushed on the seatbelt release, but Remy's hand caught hers. She tried to wrench it out of his grasp, but he held on tight. "Let go," she growled, her eyes on his hand.

"Anna," he said, her name feeling sharp on his tongue. "Do y' really t'ink I'm your enemy?" He didn't want to hold her there against her will, but he had to know.

Her stare lifted shakily from their hands to his eyes, the red glowing intensely once again. For once, she was scared and she could tell by the way he looked at her that he knew. His eyes softened and the glow dimmed. His hand relaxed on top of hers and she slipped it out from underneath of his, taking the seatbelt with it.

"Ah…" The seatbelt slid off her shoulder and into its harness with a loud click. "Ah don't know what ta think," she whispered, her voice distant. "Do ya realize how much has happened ta us in the last three weeks? Ta me an' mah friends?" She edged away from him, her body sliding against the leather in long, low squeaks. "Ah haven't had the time to sort things in mah head, half of it is a blur because Ah feel like Ah've been high on adrenaline foh so long." She pressed her back against the door, the window feeling cool against her damp sweater. "Whenever you pop into mah head, Ah don't know what ta think. It's the same thoughts every time – should Ah be mad at you? Should Ah want ta reminisce about our time at the river? Do Ah wanna even know how ya made it up here? An' what happened ta that girl you were complainin' about? An' how does yoah brother like bein' married?"

"So y' have t'ought 'bout de same t'ings I have," he said after a moment, his voice soft and barely audible.

"Ah highly doubt that ya think of me with the same confusion."

"What makes y' say dat? Like y' said: we're on separate teams here. Y' t'ink I c'n tell St. John dat I knew one of de X-Men back when she was covered in river mud? Dat I c'n mention it randomly t' Magneto in my debriefin's dat m' heart isn' in dis job anymore because de t'ought of hurtin' you after everyt'ing is tearin' me up?"

"Remy, we…" she began, unsure of what to say. "We only knew each other foh a few weeks…"

"An' y' made an impact den, _chére_. Y' can' say I didn' do de same f' you if y' dis conflicted over seein' me 'gain." He paused for a moment and watched as she absorbed his words. She made no motion to move closer to him though, so he continued. "But right now, 'm lookin' at y' an' I don' see Rogue, tough girl o' de X-Men, sworn enemy of Magneto an' his _lackeys_, f' a lack of a better word." He caught the faintest of smiles cross her lips before it faded instantly. "I'm lookin' at y' an' seein' Anna, de girl who drove me insane f'r my last summer of freedom."

Her eyes closed for a moment, and Remy was sure he was going to get a tongue lashing for calling her Anna again. Her lips set into an indiscernible line as her hand fluttered to her temple, rubbing it briefly.

He sat in silence, waiting for her to speak. The car hummed softly under the drumming of the rain, which still hadn't let up. Lightning bolted in the sky a fair distance away, with thunder pounding after it a few moments later. Movement caught his eye and his gaze drifted from her face down to her hand, which had been on the door's handle moments before. It slid slowly back into her lap, followed by her other hand as it dropped from her head, almost floating like a feather as it trailed down her chest.

He looked up from her hands and found her staring at him, her eyes glazed over with tears. "Ya promise you'll tell me everythin' ya can?" Her normally husky southern voice was small, delicate. He nodded wordlessly without hesitation. Rogue slipped back into the seat, fingering the seatbelt once again. Remy took the cue and turned his attention back to the road, pulling off the shoulder and picking up speed once again.

They drove for a few minutes in silence; the only sounds were that of the windshield wipers swishing back and forth and the tires running smoothly over the wet road. Thunder sounded once or twice, but neither of them registered it. Rogue's cell phone vibrated again, but it remained untouched in her bag by her feet.

"'M sorry if y' get in trouble," Remy murmured after it stopped going off.

"They'll get over it," she whispered. Her fingers tugged at her gloves absently, a nervous habit she developed over the years. "Ah'll pro'bly be grounded foh a bit though."

"Dat _professeur_ of yours grounds y' guys? Aren' y' a li'l old f' dat?"

Rogue could hear the smirk in his voice and couldn't help but let a tiny smile twinkle in her eyes. "Maybe. Ya know, there is some good out of mah home being destroyed – no extra danger room sessions as punishment," she mused aloud.

He turned to stare at her for a moment before his eyes found the road again. "Dat's morbid, _chére_."

"Ya won't see me thankin' Mystique any time soon; it was just a thought." She saw the school coming up in the distance. She sighed at the sight.

"I hear y'. Shame t' see de date end so soon," Remy chuckled.

Her eyes widened. "Ah hope that you're jokin'."

"Chill, Anna." Her name rolled off his tongue before he could stop it. Instead of catching her cringe in the corner of his eye, he saw her visibly relax. "_Oui_, I was jus' playin'. Y' t'ink I have t' knock girls out t' take dem on a date?"

"All things considered, possibly."

"Hey!"

She smiled. "I was jus' playin'," she teased, mimicking his accent flawlessly.

Remy pulled into the parking lot, which Rogue gratefully noted was empty. _Here's hopin' Logan's on the other side of the building raht about now_. She grabbed her bag, her hand itching by the door's handle once again after she released herself from the seatbelt.

"I'll be seein' y', _chérie_," he said, his eyes on her as he parked the car effortlessly in the middle of the parking lot.

"But will Ah be seein' you?" she asked, laughing softly. Her face sobered after a moment. She stared at him, unsure of how to ask him the question that was dancing on the tip of her tongue. _Swallow yoah pride, dammit_. "When will Ah see you again?" she asked finally.

"Whenever y' want," he responded, his lazy smirk back.

"But how will Ah-"

"Y'll know how. Go on, _chére_. I don' want y' t' be seen wit' me."

She nodded, clutching her bag to her body. "… Bye, Remy."

"See y', Anna." He smiled gently at her, producing a similar smile from her. She opened the door and slid out with a final glance to him. The rain immediately assaulted her already matted hair, but she didn't care one bit. She shut the door and gazed at Remy through the window, hoping that her face didn't look quite as sad as the last time they parted ways. He gave her a quick salute before pulling away, leaving her alone with a trail of smoke, the rain, and her thoughts.

And the sound of Logan's motorcycle growing louder by the second.

_Shit._

-----

Remy watched in the rearview mirror as he drove away from her as she stood in the rain, watching him leave her. He knew that they had made progress getting past the whole 'are we enemies' thing, but besides that, nothing. Neither of them had gotten around to explaining a thing about their separate six years. _Could've gotten dere if she hadn' been unconscious f' so long…_ he commented to himself guiltily.

He drove around to the back parking lot where he'd hidden his motorcycle. He didn't particularly like the idea of driving in the rain, but he knew he couldn't hold onto Duncan's car, even though it drove like a dream. Rogue was right, if the jock hadn't found it, he'd find some way to pin it on her friends, regardless of the evidence.

With a sigh, he parked it and bent down to play with the wires to turn the engine off. Leaving them hanging haphazardly, he exited the car to find his bike. The rain pelted him mercilessly as he trudged to the stadium, his boots sucking in the muddy grass. As he neared its hiding place under the bleachers, a smirk dawned on his face. He reached into his duster pocket and retrieved his cell phone. He flipped it open, noting a missed call from Piotr and another from Lapin, neither of which he intended to call back. However, he pressed a button to scan the phonebook. First entry: _A. Marie._

With a chuckle, he closed the phone and slipped it back into his pocket.

-----

She had climbed onto Logan's bike behind him without a single word. She could tell he had a million and one things to snarl at her, all of which pointing to why she hadn't answered her phone in the twenty times everyone at the institute had tried reaching her not to mention why she was standing alone in the middle of the parking lot with the odor of exhaust around her. However, Logan held back and Rogue assumed Xavier had told him to lay off her until he got her home safe.

She should've really killed Remy for putting her in this situation. Didn't he understand how tense things were for them now? She sighed, knowing she couldn't blame him for the situation, but it all pointed back to him – well, at least it pointed back to his employer. Maybe she was angrier at the fact that she still had _no_ clue why he was up here, in Bayville of all places, working for Magneto. He was a thief, he'd told her of how he'd have to keep up the family business – how did that all relate to working for the very man that her mentor clashed ideals with the most?

_It's funny though_, she thought as Logan stopped before the new Institute gates. _Ah didn't even know what a mutant was when Ah met Remy, though he couldn't have been anything else but one with his eyes. He would've mentioned havin' powers if he'd manifested them befoh we met… so when did they? How did they? Does Magneto's little file on me detail mine exactly?_ She couldn't help but wonder if Remy knew that her powers were uncontrollable.

Her musings came to a halt when Logan pulled into the ramp that led down to their temporary living arrangements. Slowly, they followed the ramp down to their makeshift garage where Logan parked the bike. Rogue practically jumped off from behind him, tugging off her helmet. She placed it on the shelf and moved to leave, but Logan's voice held her back. "Stripes," he said in a low, stern voice that Rogue knew all too well. He always used a different tone with her, a softer voice that held a certain respect for her that Logan didn't use with the other students. It held no less disappointment though.

"Ah know," she replied, not turning to face him. "Can Ah go change real quick an' then you an' the prof can scold me?"

"Jus' tell me who you were with, first."

She turned them, giving him an even stare. Her cool gray-green eyes revealed nothing as they pierced through Logan's brown ones. "Ah was with someone?"

"You had obviously gotten out of a car right before I got there, Rogue. Don't play stupid with me."

_Think quick, girl_. "Ah was studyin' with a friend in the library. She had a car that we both walked out to after we left the buildin' an' she took off befoh ya got there. We must have jus' missed you when ya circled the school." _This is such bullshit. Ah don't believe for a second that he'll fall foh it._

He remained silent, but crooked an eyebrow as he scrutinized her face. Rogue could feel him searching for any waver in her visage, but she remained firm. The eyebrow dropped. "Didn't think ya had any friends left after what happened," he commented as if he was testing her.

"Risty's still around, thankfully," she lied again with a shrug. Truth was she hadn't seen her good friend since before the Sentinel incident. She momentarily wished that Risty was alright, but also hoped that Logan wasn't aware of her friend's disappearance.

Logan stared at her for another moment before his face relaxed. "Go get changed," he dismissed her, turning to his bike with intent to clean it up from the rainstorm. "I'll have Charles call for you in fifteen."

Rogue nodded. "Thanks," she said as she ducked out of the garage. She quickly dodged the other students in the dining area and slipped into her room, noting Kitty was busy on her laptop with music playing. She saw Rogue enter the room and moved to turn it off but Rogue shook her head. "Don't bother - Ah'm goin' ta the bathroom ta clean up. Some rainstorm, huh?"

"Really," the younger girl agreed. "How was _studying_?"

"Ta tell ya the truth, Kit," Rogue began as she kicked off her sopping wet sneakers. "Ah got wrapped up in one of mah books. Ah hadn't even realized that much time had passed." _When did Ah become a world class liar? _"Don't say anythin' ta the others though. They'll probably get pissed considerin' Ah could've found a safer place ta get sucked into a book," she laughed.

Kitty rolled her eyes knowingly. "You should like, be more careful about that. Especially with everything that's happened – everyone was wondering where you were."

Rogue smiled with a shrug as she gathered clothes out of her drawers to change into. "Well, Ah'm here now. Guess that's all that matters, raht?"

"Yeah. I'm happy you're home though. I was worried! You should keep your phone on vibrate instead of silent next time so you'll be able to tell if someone's calling you."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Ah'll keep that in mind…" With new clothes bundled in her arms, she turned to leave the room. Kitty's attention returned to her homework without another thought, her lips silently mouthing the words to the song playing.

Rogue reached the door when she heard a slight vibration. Blinking curiously, she saw that Kitty made no reaction visibly, her mind already absorbed with her trigonometry homework once again. She looked at her bag. _What the…_

She walked over to her bed casually, watching Kitty out of the corner of her eye. Her roommate paid no attention to Rogue as she threw the strap out of her shoulder and escaped the room quickly. She whispered 'thank you' to whoever was listening as she entered the surprisingly empty bathroom. There was usually a wait as there were only two bathrooms for the fifteen mutants living in the small arrangements.

She shut the door behind her and took a seat on the closed toilet lid, dropping her bag in front of her. She unzipped the front pocket which contained her phone and she dug for it, her damp fingers clamping around it a moment later. She withdrew it from the bag, her lips pursed with intrigue. _Who would've called me after Ah got back to the institute?_

She flipped it open and immediately saw that no one had called her, but she had a new text message. Even more curious, she pressed 'read' and her eyes immediately lit up. She couldn't stop the grin that spread across her face.

_From: Etienne._

_Told you you'd know how to find me._

------------------------------------

So we made it through another chapter! And yes, this story has officially become out of control as previously mentioned, hence the **super long** chapter. A couple side notes:

(1). Theoren and Julien are 15. Belladonna is 12. While I'm at it, Henri's 19. Also, I've decided to eff Evolution canon, so hooray, the Assassins are back, and they killed all the Rippers like they were trained to do. Chapter One has been fixed accordingly. Everyone rejoice because no one liked those idiotic Rippers anyway.

(2). Okay, I asked _everyone_ I knew while writing this about what the hell the technical term for a wishie was. You know, the thing a dandelion turns into near the end of the season and kids blow on after making a wish? And I came to the conclusion, after searching Google, that there is no official term, so Wishie it is. Here's hoping that it's not a Northeast thing and you guys understood that…

(3). Rogue's monologue was written as a reminder to myself of what had happened in the beginning of season three. I've been writing this whole thing out of order, so that was written with the intent of keeping things as canon as possible, haha. As previously stated… that's been thrown out the window, but I still liked writing it from her point of view, so it stayed.

One more thing – if anyone can guess where I'm getting the chapter titles (plus the story title) from, you have my undying love forever. This will be revealed with the final chapter (unless I get too anxious and expose it sooner than that!)

As always, much love to you all! I really suck at getting back to you guys through the review reply function, but I just wanted to let you know how much I really appreciate each and every one! Honestly, the reaction I got to chapter one kept me writing this all month (which is why chapter 28 of _SL_ is nowhere to be found…)

But that's it! Let me know what you think!

--Courtney


	3. Signals Over the Air

**Standing On the Edge of Summer**

_Signals Over the Air_

Ah think Ah've checked mah phone a zillion an' a half times since Ah got that text message last week. Unfortunately, nothin' from Remy since then. Ah guess he figures he'll give me space ta contact him. Ta be honest, Ah want nothin' more than to set up a meetin' so the two of us can actually _talk_ instead of me bein' freaked out half of the time, but Ah'm so worried of gettin' caught.

Ah'm grounded, as expected. Xavier wasn't too happy with how Ah disappeared an' Ah've been told to come raht home daily foh two weeks, meanin' Ah've been hitchin' rides home with Scott instead of walkin'. Logan's been on mah ass more than usual too, which is just _great_. Ah could tell he was disappointed in me foh lyin' so blatantly. What Ah said worked on Kitty an' pro'bly would've worked on anyone else in the school, but not Logan. He didn't say anythin' directly to me 'bout it though, which Ah'm grateful for. He just gives me this partially-wounded sneer any time Ah talk ta him, darin' me ta try somethin' else.

He's the main reason why Ah haven't tried even textin' Remy back. Ah feel like Ah've been on constant watch since the entire incident – if one of the other students isn't hangin' out with me, Logan's there like a hawk. Ah don't think Ah've had a moment of privacy all week save for when Ah'm in the bathroom – and that's moments long at best thanks to havin' ta share with everyone. Even if Ah were ta contact Remy with mah phone on silent, Ah'm sure Logan's senses would go off with the phone waves or whatever, knowin' mah luck.

Ugh why did Remy have ta be here of all places? An' now of all times, when things have gotten so much worse for all of us? An' with Magneto of all people to work for? Ah know Ah've asked mahself those question so many times Ah can't even make up a number foh it. He's makin' it so very hard ta focus on school work now (not that Ah particularly cared in the first place). After seein' him again… Ah'm achin' ta know what the last six years have been like foh him…

-----

Anna opened the back door slowly, peeking into the kitchen. Upon seeing neither Irene nor Val, she stepped inside. "C'mon," she whispered to Remy as she ushered him past the doorway. "Reenie's pro'bly in the other room."

Remy nodded, following closely behind her. She stopped for a moment to pull her long sleeved t-shirt over her head, revealing a brightly colored tank top underneath. She tossed it on one of the table chairs and sighed with relief. "Much better," she giggled. "Ah can't stand layerin' like that inside when Ah don't have to."

"I don' know how y' do it," Remy commented quietly as he followed Anna out of the kitchen. She tip-toed around the corner, her steps silent on the hard wood floor. Remy slipped along behind her, his stride innately soundless.

She stopped him right before they reached the sitting room upon hearing Irene and Val talking. She put her finger up to her lips with a smirk. He nodded, his eyes alight. Spying on grown-ups was always fun. They pressed their backs against the wall and listened as best as they could.

"We need to be more cautious, Irene," they heard Val say. "You said you weren't sure when-"

"Raven, it could be years before we need to worry about her," Irene interrupted softly, her voice low. "The frequency of the visions leans more towards her adolescence – let her enjoy her childhood."

Remy blinked and glanced to Anna, who in turn shrugged. "Who's Raven?" he mouthed.

"No clue," she whispered. "Maybe a nickname foh Val?" Anna's eyebrows knit in confusion as she leaned closer to the archway dividing the hallway and the sitting room to get a better look.

Anna could just see the back of Irene's head as she peeked around the corner. She watched as her guardian lifted her mug of tea to her lips gingerly. Val sat on the adjacent sofa, a scowl set across her face. "You can't blame me for being worried," the blonde continued, her profile in plain view of Anna's curious eyes.

Remy tapped Anna on the back as she crouched close to the edge of the wall. "Careful," he whispered.

"Ah'm fine," she murmured over her shoulder. She turned her head. "Ah can see them sittin' now."

"I know. I'm doing what I can though. Please appreciate that," Irene said patiently, lowering her mug to the arm of the chair.

"I do," Val sighed. Her eyes fluttered shut, briefly appearing bright amber before fading back to crystal blue.

"What the-" Anna gasped.

"What?" Remy asked, edging closer to her.

"Her eyes… they just did this thing!"

"What?" he repeated curiously, leaning closer. He hovered over her, trying to get a look himself.

"Hey, watch it!" she hissed loudly. His hand braced the wall over just over her head. She took a step back, her foot covering over a loose shoe lace from Remy's sneaker. He tried to step backward himself, but lost his footing with Anna on his shoe.

"_Merde_!" he muttered brashly as he fell backward, reaching for anything to keep him from falling flat on his bottom. Unfortunately, Anna wasn't ready for him to latch onto her arm and she joined him on the floor.

"OW!" she cried, scowling at him. She rolled off him and realized how much noise they made when they hit the ground. Her eyes were wide with shock. "We're totally caught," she whispered fearfully.

Val sat upright on the couch, her eyes set on the hallway. "Anna?" Irene called gently.

"Shoot," the young girl whispered harshly as she stood up and smoothed out her hair. "Good job, Swamp Rat!"

He shrugged sheepishly with a grin as he picked himself up, watching as Anna rounded the corner. "Ah'm here," she announced, a blush settling on her cheeks.

"Are you alright, dear?"

Anna laughed gently. "Yeah, Ah'm fine." Remy came up from behind her and bent down to tie his shoe laces. "Now Ah know whatcha mean when you're always tellin' me ta double knot mah sneakers," she added, her blush deepening.

Irene smiled warmly, placing her mug on the end table carefully. "Come here, sweetheart. Did you bring a friend with you?" Her tone was even and calm. Val eyed Anna and her friend with wariness as they joined them in the sitting room.

Anna beamed, taking a seat in the arm chair next to Irene. "Ah met that boy from the Quarter the other day down by the river!" she said excitedly. "This is Remy, Irene."

Remy stood up and moved over to where Anna was sitting. Irene outstretched her hand in his general direction and he shook it gently. He was slightly unnerved by how she didn't seem to look at him even through the dark glasses, but ignored the feeling as best as he could. "Nice t' meet y'."

"Likewise," the older woman sincerely greeted. She motioned her hand in Val's direction. "This is Valerie Cooper," she introduced.

The blonde nodded curtly. "Pleasure, Remy." She stared at him with cool blue eyes through his sunglasses. He ignored the urge to push them back further on his nose and took a seat next to Anna on the large arm chair.

"What brings you two indoors on a day like this?" Irene asked.

"We were hopin' you could make some of that iced tea that you make back home. It's _really_ hot out an' we're _really_ thirsty," Anna explained grinning.

Her guardian smiled. "Say no more, dear. Would you want to give me a hand in the kitchen?"

"Ah'd love to!" She stood up, grabbing Remy's hand. "Are ya comin', Val?" she asked, turning to the blonde.

"I've got a few phone calls to make," she replied with a small smile as she stood up and headed for the stairs. Her crystal eyes didn't leave Remy's, as if she was searching for something behind his sunglasses – as if she _knew_ that he was different. His hand itched at his side, aching to adjust his sunglasses in case even a glimmer of red was shining through.

Anna tugged him out of the sitting room, out of Val's line of vision. Only then did he reach up to push them back. Anna glanced sideways at him, catching him fiddling with his glasses. "Ya don't need ta worry about those near Irene," she said with a laugh.

Remy glimpsed over his shoulder to the older woman, tapping along the hardwood floor with her cane as she followed them into the kitchen. _She ain' de one I'm uneasy 'bout._ "Y' can' blame me f' worryin'."

Her smile fell into a neutral line. "Ah know."

Remy opened his mouth to respond, but Irene spoke up from behind them as they entered the kitchen. "Anna, could you get the tea bags from the cupboard?"

She nodded, dark auburn and white curls bouncing enthusiastically. She left Remy's side to cross the kitchen, pushing herself up onto the counter with ease to reach the high shelf where the tea was kept.

"So, Remy," Irene asked as she found her way to the sink. "I take it you live in the area?"

"_Oui_," he responded. "M' house isn' far from here."

Irene smiled warmly as she ran the tap. She motioned to one of the lower cabinets close to Remy. "Could you find me a pitcher in there? I remember Valerie searching for one in there yesterday."

Anna jumped down from the counter, tea bags in hand. "How long do ya think it'll take ta make it, Reenie?"

"Not long, dear. I just need to get the kettle on and we'll be drinking iced tea in no time." Her smile suddenly faded as her hand fluttered up to her temple. The kettle she held in her other hand clanked noisily out of her grasp and into the sink.

"Irene?" Anna was instantly by her side, her eyes cloudy with concern and iced tea forgotten. "Is it another headache?"

"Just a slight one…" the older woman grimaced. She held fast to the counter, the pain of her headache excruciating.

"You should lie down," Anna insisted as she tucked a stray lock of white hair behind her ear before her hand grasped Irene's arm again. "C'mon, Ah'll help ya ta yoah room."

Remy stood helplessly as Anna cautiously escorted her guardian out of the room. Unsure of what to do, he walked over to the sink and turned off the running faucet.

After a few minutes of standing awkwardly alone, Anna rushed back into the kitchen. "Sorry Ah left ya alone like that!" she apologized, tucking her hair behind her ear again anxiously. "Ah told ya about those headaches she gets… they're always real bad," she sighed. She walked over to the sink and emptied out the kettle. "Guess we're gonna have ta settle foh whatever's in the fridge."

"Y' said she's been gettin' dem a lot?" Remy asked, following her to the fridge.

She opened it up, glancing over the contents. "At least once a day since we got here – she's scarin' me with them." She reached into the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of grape juice. "Is this okay?"

"Works fine, _fille_."

Anna closed the door to the fridge and placed the juice on the counter. She readied herself to leap onto the counter as she had before to retrieve two glasses from the cabinet, but Remy reached over her head with ease and located the glasses. With a mock glare, she accepted the glasses from him and began to pour the juice. "She worries me though… She always says it's nothin' though an' that Ah shouldn't think twice 'bout it."

She filled one glass to the rim and nodded towards it for Remy to take. As she repeated the same to the other glass, Remy lifted his glass to his lips and took a sip. "Has she seen any doctors f' it?"

Anna topped off the glass and set the pitcher on the counter with a sigh. "She won't. She really thinks it's nothin', even though she gets them all the time. Ah mean, Ah'm not bein' a pain over this, am Ah?"

Remy shook his head. "She can' blame y' f' wantin' t' help. If Henri or _mon tante_ were like dat, I'd want t' get dem help too."

She picked up her glass, staring at him curiously over the rim. "Not yoah daddy?"

"He's not m' favorite person right now, 'member?" he responded wryly.

"Oh, raht," she giggled, sipping her juice. "You'd be sad if he left ya though, wouldn't you?"

He shrugged, running his free hand through his hair with a sigh. "I would, pro'bly. I'd be a lot sadder if I lost Henri or Tante dough. Dey're de ones I know I can go t' wit' everyt'ing."

Anna smiled wistfully. "Ah wish Ah had a brother or a sister. It's hard with just me an' Irene sometimes… it'd be nice ta have someone else ta talk to." She began crossing the room to the table, motioning for Remy to follow. "Tell me 'bout yoah brother. Ah wanna know why he doesn't like river rats," she grinned as she hopped into a chair.

Remy smirked and slid into the chair next to her. "Y' won' want t' hear it, _fille_."

Her eyes danced playfully. "Try me."

-----

He'd been coming to the school daily, hoping to catch sight of her. Usually he only stopped by for a few minutes when he knew her classes were changing, ducking in the shadows and hoping for just a glance at her. Was it stalkerish? _Definitely_. Did Remy necessarily care? _Not really._

'_Sides, least now she knows I **have** been spyin' on her. Maybe she's expectin' it_, Remy mused with a smirk.

He wanted to be hurt that he hadn't heard from her at all, but he knew she was probably laying low for the time being. Judging from what Pietro had told him of the X-Men and their firm rules, Rogue was probably grounded like she had assumed she would be, and could be for at least a couple weeks. He didn't know when to expect to hear from her, so every time his phone buzzed in his pocket, his red eyes lit up as he answered it as casually as possible, only to be disappointed by other callers.

Magneto was getting on his case recently, too – said it was time for a mission of sorts. Piotr had done some message delivering on behalf of the Acolytes with dismal results and St. John was… well, St. John. Magneto wasn't too keen on sending him out for task work on the fear that he'd set everything on fire. The guy was a critical weapon in a fight, but otherwise, Magneto just kept him close by as a safety precaution. _Not dat I blame him_, Remy thought with a chuckle.

But now it was Remy's turn. It was petty work at best, but at least it was _something_ to do; even if he did have to visit the Brotherhood for it. It wouldn't take him long to take care of but it would help keep his mind off Rogue for a little bit - though barely since he was still required to go to Bayville High.

He had 'originally' gone to the small campus to contact Lance. He'd run into the rock tumbler minutes before to tell him to get the rest of the Brotherhood together at their house as requested by Magneto. Lance had stormed away in a huff insisting he wanted no part in it, even though he had nothing better to do with his time since he, Todd and Fred had all been expelled from Bayville High.

All that was left to do was head over to the Brotherhood Manor, seeing as how Lance had raced off angrily in his Jeep, but something else just _happened_ to catch Remy's attention…

Classes were changing and in the distance he could see Rogue walking with that Spyke kid he'd read about vaguely when he'd flipped through Magneto's files. In Remy's spot by the parking lot, he could see a couple of thugs go over to them and stir up some trouble. Without thinking, his feet started walking closer to the group until he was leaning up against a tree, not too far off from their mini spat. He saw Rogue get pushed to the ground and his hand clenched into a fist, ready to charge anything at a moment's notice. Suddenly, Evan popped spikes all over his body – Remy relaxed his fist as his eyes widened. He was pretty sure he'd read in the paper that the Xavier students weren't allowed to use their powers on school property as part of the agreement to allow them back into Bayville High.

The thugs ran away, and Remy saw them coming his way. _Maybe I could still get dem back_. He glanced past them and saw Rogue off the ground, trying to relax her friend.

The dumb-duo stumbled across the grass and right in front of him. He glared at them and they froze, unsure and intimidated by his piercing red eyes.

"I got two words for y'," Remy said darkly. "Drop it."

Thug #1 turned his nose up. "We didn't ask you," he snarled.

With a sly smirk, Remy reached for the pencil hanging out of Thug #1's pocket. "Then consider dis free advice," he drawled smugly. With a thought, the pencil began to blaze under his fingertips. The two brutes watched as Remy threw the pencil into a nearby tree. It exploded on contact.

Wary eyes turned back to Remy. "Don't. Mess. With the mutants," he warned.

"Uhh… no problem," Thug #1 muttered unintelligibly as he and his buddy scattered off.

Remy chuckled to himself as they tripped over themselves embarrassingly trying to get away. _Dat was too much fun._ He'd almost forgotten about why he was still there when a familiar voice sounded through the air. "What are _you_ doin' here?" He heard behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Rogue standing there, her hands on her hips in a stance exuding annoyance. His gaze traced up her body to her eyes and saw that she was genuinely surprised to see him there.

"Y' know how it is – doin' work for de big man, checkin' out de view. Dis school ain' half bad, Anna."

Rogue glanced over her shoulder warily, sensing one of her friends coming near. "Ya can't be here!" she hissed.

"Out of every time I've been here, _chére,_ dis is de first time y' seen me. T'ink I'm doin' pretty good f' m'self,_ non_?" His smirk faded as his eyes grazed down her body, concerned. "Y' alright? I saw dat punk shove y'."

She blushed ever so slightly for a moment before her cheeks paled once again. "Yeah, but just so ya know, Ah can take care of mahself just fine, Remy," she retorted softly, her voice tinged with apprehension as her eyes jetted past her shoulder again.

He looked past Rogue and saw her brunette friend stalking up behind her with worry etched across her face. "Guess I should be on m' way," he concluded with a nod past Rogue towards her friend.

She caught sight of Kitty and mentally cursed. "Wait!" she said, wishing she could close the distance between them. "Ah'm sorry Ah haven't… ya know."

He smiled warmly. "Figured y' haven' had de chance to."

"Ah'm grounded foh another week," she explained, casting another glimpse over her shoulder. "Ah'll try ta befoh then though so we can set somethin' up."

"I'd like dat, but now, I've gotta get t' work," he said, his eyes blazing brightly. He watched as the corners of Rogue's lips turned up in a small smile. "Till den, _chérie_." He turned and walked away casually, just as Kitty caught up with Rogue.

"Hey, isn't that one of Magneto's new guys?" Kitty asked immediately, eyeing Remy's retreat.

Rogue cringed at the affiliation. "Yup," she replied, her face like stone. "And he's up to somethin'." _An' Ah really want ta know what._

Kitty grabbed her arm. "We better tell Scott!"

"Forget that, there's no time! Let's follow him," her gloved hand found Kitty's arm instead and began tugging her in the direction Remy exited. _If he can spy on me, Ah can spy on him_, she mused sinisterly.

"But what about sixth period?"

-----

The next day, Remy exited the Brotherhood Manor with a satisfied smirk on his face. Magneto would be happy to know that he was successful with getting Pietro rescued and would perhaps lay off him for awhile. He truly disliked being an errand boy, but it was the best he could do given his circumstances.

_Not like anyone in de Guild's willin' t' hire me dese days anyway, even if dey could. 'Sides, it won' last f'ever – Mags is bound t' get his plan rollin' soon enough an' we'll see real action 'gain… an' here's hopin' de X-Men don' get too involved._

With a sigh, his thoughts were once again brought back to Rogue. Being under Magneto's command didn't seem like too bad an idea when the contract was drawn up. He didn't mind being around other mutants seeing as how he'd been an outcast for so long, even amongst the Thieves. Sure, the man's ideals were intimidating, but Remy could appreciate Magneto's realistic point of view; however, knowing that Rogue was on the team vehemently opposing his boss's principles made things a lot more complicated than the job was intended to be. He might've only known her for a short while, but he meant every word that he'd said to her about making an impact on him then.

He extracted his cell phone from his duster pocket, intending to call Magneto to update him on the status of his mini-mission. He flipped it open and was about to search for the proper number when the phone shook with life as a message came in. His eyes knit with curiosity as the little envelope swirled on the screen. _Theoren better not be wastin' my time again…_ His cousin was notorious for sending ridiculous chain-text messages. Dieu_, how I hate dem._

The envelope stopped moving on the screen.

Remy's eyes widened.

_Message from: A. Marie._

"_Merde_!" he cursed under his breath. He glanced back to the Brotherhood Manor to make sure none of the boys were outside before quickening his pace to his motorcycle. His thumb slid anxiously over the 'read' button.

_Hey, I'm in study hall hiding in the back of the library. Told you I'd try to find a chance to get back to you._

Remy couldn't help but smirk. His thumb slid eagerly over to 'reply.'

-----

Rogue casually slid her phone just far enough into her bag so she could see it if it lit up and picked up her book again, though she had no intention of reading it. Her eyes shifted around the library, making sure no one would catch her on her phone. Bayville High had strict guidelines against cell phone usage during school hours, but she knew getting back to Remy would be practically impossible anywhere else at this point.

Just as the librarian passed her table, her phone lit up in a frenzy. Repressing a grin until the librarian was out of sight, Rogue palmed the phone as she had before, flicking it open quietly.

_Message from: Etienne_

She snickered inaudibly at the use of his middle name in his attempt to be inconspicuous. She had fought the urge to change it to something like 'Swamp Rat' for laughs, but the last thing she needed was one of the others grabbing her cell phone and inquiring as to who that could possibly be. Bobby had a knack for being intrusive (Rogue liked to think he was masochistic) and would no doubt spread the news to the others. At least with 'Etienne,' she could play it off as someone from her French class.

_I hope you didn't get yourself in more trouble seeing as how you followed me yesterday._

This time, Rogue couldn't help but let her snickers slide past her lips.

------

Remy sat on his motorcycle, ready to take off, though he was afraid of missing a message from her while driving. The phone rested open in his hand as he waited in anticipation for her next message. "C'mon, Anna…" he whispered to his phone.

And to his amusement, his coaxing apparently worked as his phone buzzed with a new message. Without hesitation, Remy opened the text.

_And here I thought you didn't see me… haha. Guess we can't all have great spying skills, Mr. Thief. I did end up with detention on Saturday for skipping my last class though._

-----

With a satisfied smirk, Rogue buried her nose back in her book after she replaced her phone in her bag.

She couldn't even pretend to read a whole sentence before her phone sprang to life again. As casually as she had before, she flipped it open and stifled her laughter once again.

_You don't seem too broken up over that._

-----

_What if I told you I planned the whole thing?_

-----

_You wanted to get in trouble??_

-----

_I was going to be stuck at the institute for another couple days until the middle of next week! Spending my entire weekend in a hole in the ground was not my idea of fun._

-----

_And detention is?_

-----

_You're not thinking with a broader perspective here, Rems._

-----

_Wait… are you saying that you're planning on skipping out on detention?_

-----

_Ugh, can't do that. I'd never hear the end of it plus I'd probably end up with another month of house arrest. _

-----

_Then what's the big plan?_

-----

_I'm skipping out on Kitty afterwards. I can lose her since we have different teachers, no big deal. _

-----

_And she won't notice you disappearing?_

-----

_Why don't you try and sound a little more skeptical? This isn't a full proof plan but it's kinda all I have right now._

-----

_Sorry. Anything I can do to help out?_

-----

_Yeah, but that'll have to wait. Study hall's over. I have it again on Friday so maybe I'll have a concrete plan then_.

-----

_I'll see if I can come up with anything._

-----

_That would be greatly appreciated. I'll talk to you later, Cajun._ :)

With an almost giddy smirk, Remy snapped his cell phone closed and slid it into his pocket. He kick-started his bike and drove away from the Brotherhood Manor, already having lingered there too long. _De last t'ing I need is dem wonderin' why I was laughin' at text messages like a love sick pup when I had left dem with Pietro almost a half hour ago._

He sighed, trying to get his head back to the task at hand, which was informing Magneto of the success of his mission. Pietro had been instated as the Brotherhood's new leader with no Mystique to speak of.

Wait. _Wait a damn second._

_Love sick?_

As Remy road along the winding back roads of Bayville towards Magneto's base, his mind shifted back to Rogue despite his best efforts. These days he wondered if his mind had been plotting against him to ruin what he'd done to detach himself from his old life for the time being. As he had confided to Rogue, he couldn't focus on tasks anymore. While he hadn't accidentally slipped anything to any of the other Acolytes, nor had he come close, with how his thought patterns seemed to consistently revolve around her, it was only a matter of time.

What was it about her though? Seeing Rogue – Anna – again had drudged up long repressed memories. Sure, he'd thought of her occasionally over the last six years. He looked upon their few weeks together fondly. She'd been his first real experience with the female population; in their friendship, he'd won her over, so the rest of the gender usually fell for his wily charms in the subsequent years following without an ounce of effort on his behalf.

But what was it _really_ that kept her at the forefront of his mind? It went beyond purely wanting to know how she ended up in Bayville of all places of the world. Was it how he constantly compared her young infectious giggle to her present husky snicker, or was it the way her eyes still managed to dance with green sparkles when she smiled around him? Maybe it was the curiosity of wondering if she thought the same things about him, wondering when she found out she was a mutant, wondering if they'd had similar experiences through out the years. Thoughts like those and others swirled around and around his head, confusing him to the core.

One thing was for sure – Saturday couldn't get there soon enough.

He curved around a bend smoothly, his motorcycle reacting to his movements as if they were the same entity. He was only a matter of miles away from the large mobile silver dome that his boss called headquarters. It was time to get his head back in the game – for both his and Rogue's sakes.

-----

With her phone back in her bag, Rogue slipped the rest of her belongings away and picked herself up from her seat. Her cheeks flushed slightly at the thought of Saturday, even though she had no idea how she planned to actually get away from Kitty.

She wanted to tell her desperately what was going on – she hated lying in general, especially to Kitty. The younger girl had become a great friend to Rogue, despite their obvious differences in… well, everything. They'd been roommates since Rogue initially moved to the Institute and while they had both been relieved to know that the newly built mansion would give them separate rooms, neither would admit that they'd miss the company of the other.

Telling Kitty would admit to lying before though and Rogue wasn't sure if she was ready for that. However, she knew that if she continued to lie about everything dealing with Remy, all the lies would just come crashing down on her like some horrid after school special. It was only a matter of time.

She sighed, the blush fading from her cheeks. She honestly had no idea of how she was going to pull Saturday off. Maybe, just maybe, things would work to her advantage somehow.

-----

"An' den she made me eat all o' it!" Anna burst into giggles at the conclusion of Remy's story about how he attempted to evade Mercy's notoriously bad cooking only to be foiled by Tante Mattie.

"You're lucky you have meals made foh ya all the time! Try livin' with a blind woman!"

Remy snickered. "Alright, y' got me beat, _fille_. Dis time…"

"You two okay?" Anna and Remy turned from their conversation to see Valerie standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Remy reflexively pushed back his sunglasses while Anna's grin diminished to a neutral smile. The blonde glanced around. "Where's Irene?"

"She was havin' another one of her headaches so Ah helped her ta her room," Anna explained, her green eyes dimming from the laughs she'd been sharing with Remy. "She said not ta worry."

"That's what she always says," Val murmured as she cast a glance down the hall to the blind woman's bedroom. Anna nodded knowingly. "How long ago?"

Remy glanced at the clock over the stove. "'Bout twenty minutes ago." He looked to Anna. "How long do dey last?"

She shrugged. "It's always different."

"I'm sure she's fine now," Val insisted, her blue eyes shifting uneasily. "I'll go check on her." And as quickly and quietly as she appeared, Val was gone from the kitchen doorway.

Remy leaned in closer to Anna as she turned her attention to him again. "I can see why she give y' de creeps."

"Ya feel 'em, too?"

He glimpsed at the doorway again, fearful she might overhear them even if she was down the hall. "I t'ink she knows 'bout m' eyes," he whispered.

"Really? Ah mean, I s'pose it's weird ta be wearin' yoah glasses inside, but ya think she saw yoah eyes? You're really careful 'bout keepin' them hidden."

"I don' t'ink so, but it felt like she was searchin' f' dem… like she knew somet'ings diff'rent 'bout me. It was _tres_ uncomfortable."

Anna frowned. "Sorry 'bout that… It's always hard ta think of how someone else besides me would react ta somethin' that Reenie wouldn't think twice about seein' as she's blind, especially her friends… even though it's like they're all the same, anyway…" she trailed off.

"What makes y' say dat?"

It was Anna's turn to check over her shoulder for any lingering Valerie Cooper. "They're all really annoyin', but it goes beyond that. Like they're always tryin' ta impress me, tryin' ta pamper me an' make sure Ah'm fine with Irene, especially when she isn't feelin' well. An' their visits are always so… scheduled. Ah feel like they're on rotation sometimes." Remy gave her an estranged looked. "This whole thing with Val havin' a house is strange though – like Ah told ya befoh, Irene doesn't let me explore often. Ah don't want ta say she's mean ta me or anythin' but… Ah just wish she'd let other people get close ta me besides her and her friends, ya know? It'd be nice ta have friends of mah own."

Remy smirked. "Y' got me."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Ah guess you'll have ta work foh now – even if ya are a boy."

"Y' f'got 'swamp rat,'" he added, his eyes gleaming from behind his sunglasses.

She giggled. "Ah was_ tryin'_ ta be nice."

-----

Friday came and went without word from Rogue. Remy lay in his bed in his apartment, glancing periodically at his alarm clock. Normally he would've gone out and ventured to New York City to a club or two, mingled with a few girls, collected a few numbers with empty promises of calling them back with a lingering kiss or two, but his heart just wasn't in it for the night.

_Y' gone soft, LeBeau._

He considered calling up Piotr to see what he was doing for the night, but he figured that Russian would be holed up in his quarters at Magneto's, painting or something. Still, he would've been proper company that evening for Remy's somber mood. Piotr spent most of his time plodding around the base quietly save for his heavy footsteps. Remy knew he hated being at Magneto's. He wasn't quite sure what the boss had done to manipulate Piotr's membership to the Acolytes, but he knew it was nothing voluntary on the tin man's behalf.

Plus, Remy really didn't want to be anywhere near work at the moment. It was the weekend after all, even though his job could hardly be called a conventional nine to five weekday occupation.

Another glance to his clock. 9:27.

_Y' suck, Remy. It's Friday night at nine-thirty an' y' by y'self, broodin'!_ He nodded in agreement with his mind. "I know," he sighed.

His phone began to ring suddenly. Blinking against the darkness, Remy sat up and plucked the phone off his nightstand. One look at the name on the screen had his eyes wide as he flicked open the phone and pressed it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Remy. Sorry about earlier."

-----

Friday night had its perks at the Institute, especially now that it was almost whole again. The students were exploring the new residence and moving their few belongings from the subbasement to their new rooms. Others who hadn't taken to the new levels of the mansion cautiously traveled out in packs to celebrate the weekend in Bayville; Kurt was out with Amanda, Kitty had gone out to the movies with Amara and Tabitha while Scott had taken an impromptu trip down to Mexico to get his brother out of a fix.

Rogue had taken to surveying the new mansion, curious of how her new room looked like now that it was all furnished with its new bedroom set; also she wanted to know where the bathroom was placed and how far away her room was from certain other teammates, like Kitty and Kurt.

She ventured away from the other explorers which included Bobby and Jamie and the other younger students, hoping for some of the privacy she hadn't gotten for the last several weeks. Logan had taken off for the night, presumably doing… whatever it is that Logan does on Friday nights, so she was in the clear from him thankfully.

She glanced over her shoulder, noting the other students were way down the hall, ooh'ing and ahh'ing over the new bathrooms. She laughed quietly at how they were all amazed by the new work done and how easy it was to forget that it had been a pile of rubble only a month before. They were all excited to move out of the subbasement and up into a normal living arrangement once again.

Silently, she ducked into her room and shut the door behind her with an inaudible click. She pressed her back against the door and marveled over the spacious room. She couldn't wait to decorate it to her liking. Living in the basement with Kitty had been a bit bland – neither of the girls could furnish the tiny room with anything and it felt like living in a futuristic one-star motel for a month.

Standing still for a moment, she listened for any of the other students coming down the hall. Hearing no one, she pushed herself away from the door and plopped onto her new bed. Cautiously listening for anyone else to randomly come down the hall, her hand slid inside her hoodie pocket and pulled out her cell phone.

Flipping it open, she scrolled down her phone book list to his name. _Here's hopin' he doesn't have a life like me tonight…_ she thought as her thumb pressed the call button. Tentatively, she held the phone up to her ear.

It rang once. _This is dumb._

Twice. _He's not gonna answer._

Three times. "Hello?"

Her lips curled into a smile. "Hey, Remy." She sighed, "Sorry about earlier. Turns out Ah didn't even have school today. The professor let us stay home since construction on the new mansion finished last night."

"Don' worry 'bout it," he said smoothly. Rogue could practically feel his smirk ooze through the receiver. His voice sent inviting chills through her body and she hugged herself with her free arm.

"Ah didn't interrupt anythin', did Ah?'

"Well, I _am_ in de middle of a heist but 'm sure de security guards won' mind too much if I just stop in plain view of deir cameras t' answer m' cell."

"Are ya serious?! Ah'll let ya go," she hissed into the phone, watching the door warily.

"'M kiddin', Anna. I'm jus' sittin' in my apartment, not doin' a damn t'ing," he laughed.

Her lips pursed. "Real nice, Swamp Rat," she spat before continuing. "But yoah apartment? Why don't ya live with what's his face anyway? Ah meant ta ask ya that befoh."

"Got m' own place away from de big dome of doom. Much as I'm a big fan of Petey an' John, needed somewhere away from de big man t' escape to. Plus, livin' anywhere near Creed ain' on m' list of priorities."

"Oh. Lucky you foh havin' yoah own place then. Ah'm finally gettin' mah own room foh the first time in two years."

"Dat school of yours all ready t' go den, I take it?"

"Jus' about. All that's left ta do is move stuff up from the subbasement ta our new rooms. Ah figure Ah'll decorate 'round here a li'l befoh Ah head to mah detention tomorrow. Speakin' of which…"

"Are y' still sneakin' out?"

Rogue paused. "Yeah… Ah'm just wingin' it foh the most part at this point though. Ah'm hopin' foh some big distraction that'll keep me outta the radar on this one an' the only one that'll know Ah've been gone is Kitty."

"So where do I come in?"

"Ororo'll be our ride there 'round ten. Detention is an hour, so can ya be ready ta get me 'round eleven?" Rogue bit her lip, hoping she wasn't asking too much.

"Y' want me t' pick y' up at school?" Remy sounded astonished.

"Not at the school… Ah'll meet ya at the strip of stores across from the school at eleven. Ya know the ones Ah'm talkin' about?"

"_Oui_. So…"

"'So…' what?"

"Where are we gon' go?"

She shrugged. "Ah dunno, some place neither of our teams'll see us – not ta mention the Brotherhood, too."

Remy paused for a moment and Rogue could hear him sigh into the phone thoughtfully. "How about my place? Mags doesn' even know where dat is."

"… Ah'm not sure about that one, Remy. The last thing Ah need raht now is ta be caught by Logan with yoah scent all over me thanks to yoah apartment, or worse yet, Ah get caught there period by anyone on the team."

"I realize dat, but I t'ink anywhere else public might be a risk unless we head in t' de city."

"That won't work. Ah can't risk stayin' out too long either."

"What are y' gon' tell your friend?"

"Ah'll call her after Ah leave an' let her know ta go ahead of me. She'll get mad at me but she'll understand. She knows Ah can't stay cooped up foh too long."

"If y' say so," he said with a light chuckle. "What happens when y' get in trouble again?"

Rogue snickered. "Yeah… Ah'm not concernin' mahself with that. Small price ta pay, don't ya think?"

A creak in the hallway erased the smirk from her face. Remy could tell she froze. "Anna? Y' alright?"

"Yeah," she responded, her voice barely above a whisper. "Ah should go though. Talk to ya-"

"Rogue?" Evan tentatively called to her through her door.

She sighed angrily. "What do ya want, Porcupine?" she shouted after she slid her hand over the mouth piece.

"… Are you still mad at me?" He had only almost pierced her about eight times with his bone spikes earlier in the day thanks to his magic carpet ride through the new dining room.

"Ah'm goin' ta be if ya don't leave me alone foh two more minutes!" She could hear Remy laughing on the other end. "Ah mean it, Evan!"

"Fine, man… just wanted to know if ya wanted to come down for a movie to break in the new rec room," he responded dejectedly.

"Ah'll be down in a few," she replied in a calmer voice. "Go ahead an' start without me." Evan mumbled a response before Rogue could hear his footsteps fade away from the door. "An' you," she said as she slipped her hand off her phone. "Quiet."

"Y' reminded me of me an' Henri, dat's all," he said with a chuckle.

She smiled at the mention of the older LeBeau brother. "How is he?"

"_Bon, chére_."

"Think he remembers me?" she asked with a small smile.

"How could he not? He an' Tante loved y' after y' came t' dinner dat one time."

Her smile widened. "Even though Ah was a horrid li'l river rat ta him," she laughed. "Ah'd love ta go down an' see them… Ah was so jealous of you, ya know."

"_Oui_, I know." His voice was soft and wistful. Rogue could tell there was something he wanted to say, but couldn't over the phone.

"So… like Ah was _tryin'_ ta say befoh," she laughed. "Ah should get goin'. Ah'll see ya tomorrow, Remy."

She could feel his smile through the phone. "_Bonne nuit, chére."_ With a content sigh, she closed the phone with a near silent clap. She allowed herself to smirk a moment more before she forced her face into a neutral smile so she wouldn't be questioned when she saw the others downstairs.

-----

Remy clasped the phone shut, holding it in his hand and staring into space. His trademark smirk splayed across his face as he began to twirl the phone idly in his nimble fingers.

After a few moments of reflection, he dropped the phone beside him on the pillow and turned onto his side, not willing to get up. It may have been minutes before ten o'clock, but going out was definitely not an option, especially after knowing exactly when he'd see her next. Then again… sleeping wasn't going to come easy, either.

Bonne nuit_, indeed_, he sighed, a wry smile still playing with his lips.

---------

(1) The known scene with the thugs is obviously ripped directly from episode 3x04, "Stuff of Villains." And as obviously, continuity stops right about here and picks right back up after Remy exits stage left. (smiles) The good side of this is that I got to rewatch that scene probably five times while I figured out how to fit what I wanted in – it's definitely one of my favorites purely for that small interaction between them, hehe.

(2) I know only one teacher was mentioned at the end of "SoV," but let's face it – the likelihood of Rogue and Kitty being in the same class – slim. Different interests lead to different electives, plus Kit-Kat was in mostly honors classes dealing with mathematics. The only class they could've possibly shared was Honors English or something along those lines, so yeah. If that isn't plausible enough, please just go with it. (smirk)

-----

Also, I would like to point out that **mazdamiatta** has my eternal love for guessing where I'm getting my chapter titles from! She guessed from the band **Thursday** which would be correct. The title of this story was taken from _Standing On the Edge of Summer_, obviously, which is on their album, _Full Collapse_, and it is just amazing beyond words. I recently saw them again on May 1st, and their newest album came out the day after that… plus it's safe to say I've been on a Thursday binge for the last couple months since I originally saw them in December, haha.

So, what I'm going to recommend - if you want to know how the story's going to shape up, check out the lyrics to that song. However, if you want to be surprised… (smiles)

I've been sitting on this chapter for a week or so now… I've been having massive computer problems. Sydney, my laptop died, so I bought a new one that I named Marshall (whoever gets _those_ references get my next dose of undying love, haha. Something tells me that won't be as difficult to figure out though). And then Marshall started being a total douche and had to be taken back to the store and ahhhhh it's still a huge mess, but whatever. Point is: I was inspired to get the story posted, so here it is. Chapter Four already has 5,000 words – I was just super frustrated with the computers and lazy which is why this one wasn't up sooner. Plus I had to be convinced by my wonderful friend J that I'm being paranoid about something not feeling right about this particular chapter. So here you are. Let me know what you think!

-- Courtney


	4. Marches and Manuevers

**Standing On the Edge of Summer**

_Marches and Maneuvers_

Rogue's foot tapped anxiously as the final minutes of her agonizing detention dwindled down. For what seemed like the 108th time, she ran through her mental checklist.

_1). Call Kitty and tell her not to wait up for me. At the sound of her high pitched shrieks, feign a bad reception and hang up._

_2). Promptly turn off phone._

_3). Dodge any signs of the elusive Shadowcat while crossing school grounds._

_4). Rendevous with Remy off campus at designated point._

_5). Exchange quick hellos before booking it out of here to wherever his apartment is so as to avoid being seen with an Acolyte in public._

She sighed inwardly, unsure of how the whole "going to Remy's apartment" thing was going to work. Sure, she trusted him – or at least she thought she did, based on their friendship six years ago and his confession in the car almost two weeks before, but there were things that made her second guess herself. _Ya know, like the time he **kidnapped me**_. Then again… he did show remorse for that… But this was his apartment they were talking about here! That was going to be a tough one to explain if she were to get caught.

_Sorry, Logan. Ah was just wanderin' around an' happened ta find mahself in the secret apartment of one of the Acolytes. Gambit's a cool kid; you'd like him if you'd take your claws away from his chest foh one minute. Hey, did ya know that Ah knew him so many years ago? You don't care an' you're goin' ta kill him anyway? Raht…_

However, that concern aside, Rogue was genuinely curious of how Remy kept up the place. The guy was barely twenty but came from a family with exquisite taste – she'd learned that from the few times she'd been in the LeBeau estate. Would he have a myriad of collectables that he and his family had stolen over the years? Had he furnished it himself with things he'd obtained since coming up north? Or would it be simple and nondescript? Maybe he just went there to get away and didn't see the need of decorating it elaborately…

She snapped out of her mental reverie at the sound of the moderator announcing she and her fellow detainees were free to go. With a nervous sigh, Rogue grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. She cautiously exited the room, effortlessly evading any brushed contact with the other students eager to leave. It always morbidly fascinated her how she managed to unconsciously avoid even the slightest of human contact over the past few years since her powers had manifested. It wasn't something she was proud of, but she couldn't say that she didn't mind that her body reacted in such a way in a tight situation.

She watched over her shoulder while exiting through one of the side doors. No sign of Kitty. _So far, so good_, she sighed. She dug into her jacket pocket for her phone, noticing that she already had missed a call as she caught sight of the screen on it. Keeping her pace around the campus' side lot, she flipped it open and saw that Kitty had already tried to call her. With the girl's name highlighted, Rogue groaned as she pressed call on the phone.

It rang once. "Hey, Rogue!" Kitty greeted cheerfully.

_Oh, mah gawd, she actually sounds like she's happy_. "… You're a little chipper foh a girl who reluctantly attended detention," Rogue commented warily.

"Yeah, I know. Mr. Connor let me help out with some things around class instead of sitting bored out of my mind for an hour. It got me some extra credit so, yeah, I'm totally in a good mood!" Kitty chirped.

"Ever the brown noser…" Rogue chuckled before her tone sobered. "Hey, listen… Ah'm headin' inta town foh a little bit. Ah need out of the institute, if ya know what Ah mean."

"But, Rogue-"

"Kit, Ah'm not askin' foh you ta cover foh me, Ah'm just lettin' ya know Ah won't be back raht away. If anyone asks, tell them ya haven't heard from me."

Rogue heard her friend sigh exasperatedly into the phone. "Then why are you, like, bothering to tell me at all?" Kitty snapped.

Rogue sighed. "Because Ah didn't want ta disappear on you again. Ah didn't want ya ta worry 'bout me so Ah'm givin' you the head's up."

"Am I supposed to be flattered?"

Rogue paused thoughtfully before responding, "…Yes? Because Ah know ya worry like crazy an' Ah care enough about our friendship ta not do that to ya… again?" She found herself crossing her gloved fingers as she crossed the road to the strip of small businesses and apartments across from the school.

"… How long will you be out?" Kitty asked tentatively.

Rogue was astonished. _Is she actually bein' calm about this?_ "Not long. Ah'll try ta be back by four."

"Okay… but where are you going anyway?"

"Ah'm not even sure," she partially lied. "Ah figure Ah'll just wander ta get mah head clear."

She could hear Kitty sigh into the phone. "Alright, but just be careful, okay? And promise me you'll leave your phone on and not on silent!"

Rogue smiled and mentally scratched off number two on her list. "Sure. Just don't go insane like last time with the phone calls."

Kitty laughed. "Don't give me reason to. Four o'clock, got it?"

"All raht, Kit. Thank you."

"Be careful," she repeated firmly.

She emerged from the alley onto the sidewalk where other citizens of Bayville were milling about and enjoying their Saturdays. "Will do. See ya later." She flipped the phone shut and slipped it back into her pocket. She walked along the street casually, her gray-green eyes scanning for Remy. She didn't know where he'd be, but somehow she knew he'd pull off being inconspicuous.

She strolled along the street, her hair veiling her face to keep her shielded from random pedestrians. It was an easy way to avoid someone giving her trouble for being one of those mutants from TV – if they couldn't see her face, they couldn't bother her, even though she knew she was kidding herself by trying to melt into the crowd. Usually people recognized her due to her distinctive hair, but they would shy away from her or just whisper after they passed her by. Sometimes Rogue preferred confrontation to the passive aggressiveness though. It was just more straightforward to yell at someone for being a bigot instead of listening to the hushed insults as they passed her by.

She glanced around, hoping to see Remy somewhere. Her skin itched underneath her layers of clothing as she began to grow anxious when she didn't see him. _What if he fohgot? What if he changed his mind? Wait… what if he had a mission ta go on that he didn't mention?_

As her thoughts ran away with her, a rumbling came down the street. She turned and saw a bright yellow Suzuki roaring down the otherwise quiet suburban street. Her eyes widened. "He didn't…" she muttered in awe.

"He didn't what?" a smooth and unmistakably familiar voice said close to her ear. The smell of cigarettes hung in the air around him and tangled itself in her nose as she breathed evenly.

Rogue jumped and whipped around with a startled squeak. "Don't sneak up on a girl like that!" she hissed as she stepped back from him. _Ah don't think he realizes what he's doin' when he gets that close ta me!_

Remy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, _chére_. Did y' t'ink dat was me?" he asked, nodding his head down the road to where the loud motorbike had disappeared.

"Maybe, but Ah figured ya wouldn't make an entrance like that since we're tryin' ta keep this low key." She said stuffily as her gaze drifted down to his hand where a cigarette dangled from his fingers. "Since when do ya smoke?"

He shrugged casually. "It's a habit I picked up from Henri. Kinda got worse as I grew up…" He took a quick drag and flicked the cigarette into the street. "Can' risk y' smellin' like a bar so I wanted t' get it out of de way b'fore I saw y'."

"How considerate," she muttered flatly. "Ya shouldn't smoke. It's gross."

"T'anks, _maman_," he smirked. "Shall we?" He motioned down the street to where his own bike was parked. Rogue walked slightly behind him as he led her to his parking spot. Her eyes lit up as she caught sight of it.

"Is that a…"

"Harley, oui." Remy watched as an awestruck Rogue stepped up to the deep red motorcycle and ran her hand along the leather seat. "A custom Dyna FXDI35 Super Glide, t' be exact."

"Ya know, Ah figured you ta be a Harley boy," she remarked with a small smirk as she appreciatively inspected the vehicle. _Imagine if Ah raced Logan on this thing…_

"An' here I t'ought I was unpredictable," he commented with a chuckle.

Rogue couldn't help but detect the small note pride in his voice. She finally looked up from the bike with glazed over eyes. There's just something about motorcycles that made her salivate. "Where'd ya get this? Or do Ah not wanna know."

"Relax, _chére_. I got dis from back home b'fore I left. De boss actually supplies us each wit' transportation – me an' Petey got us a set of Yamahas, but y' can see why I prefer dis one," Remy explained, the delight of showing off his bike present in his voice. "Plus… Piotr kinda already blew his up…" he added as an after thought.

Rogue snickered softly as she turned back to the motorcycle and shyly ran her gloved hand along the handlebar. "Looks like it rides like a dream… you'll have ta watch this one with me. Ah might snatch it from you," she threatened teasingly.

"Like t' see y' try, Anna," he drawled as he stepped past her and took his helmet off its resting spot the side. Before slipping it on, he revealed another one from the other side and tossed it in her direction. "Here y' go."

She caught it and carefully tugged it on her head. "Do ya normally have female riders?" she asked playfully.

"Do I really have t' answer dat?" He grinned lopsidedly before snapping his visor into place.

Rogue followed suit. "As long as you're not savin' it foh Sabretooth, Ah'm fine with wearin' it," she muttered, not sure if she wanted to know the real answer. "How far is yoah apartment from here?" she asked through the visor as Remy climbed onto the motorcycle.

"Far 'nough."

Rogue paused before throwing her leg over the bike's seat to sit behind him. "Ah told Kitty Ah'd be back by four."

"We can manage dat, I t'ink. I take it y'll be all right back dere?"

"Yeah…" she said softly as she edged forward on the seat and placed her hands gingerly on his waist. _Do Ah really want to be ridin' in ta the unknown with him?_ "Let's get goin', an' don't get any ideas," she said with a bark of laughter, trying to keep herself light hearted.

"Furthest thing from m' mind, Anna," he threw over his shoulder before putting the bike into gear.

"Sure it is," she deadpanned.

Remy smirked as he pulled out onto the street. "Y' gonna want t' hold on tighter dan dat."

"Ah'll be fine, Swamp Rat."

"Suit y' self." He gunned the motor, speeding up to sixty miles an hour in seconds. Rogue's hands reflexively grasped his waist tighter at the initial speed up, but relaxed as they reached a constant speed.

"Ya better not be smiling up there, Swamp Rat," she firmly warned.

"Neh, not smilin', _chére_. Jus' bitin' my tongue so I don' say 'I tol' y' so.'"

She clunked her helmet against his and moved her hands to behind her back where there was a small portion of the seat she could hold onto. "This'll work jus' fine from here on it," she commented smugly.

Remy didn't respond, and if he did, Rogue didn't hear him over the wind whipping around them.

-----

Remy pulled into a parking garage below a tall apartment complex. Rogue gazed around, absorbing what she could of the surrounding buildings as she made a mental map to where they were. "This place looks nice," she said under the hum of the Harley as Remy shifted the bike into his designated spot.

"It works f' de time bein'," he responded with a shrug as he turned off the engine.

Rogue slid off the back, unlatching her helmet and tugging it off her head. Remy secured his motorcycle while Rogue smoothed out her hair. "Good thing 'bout short hair," she commented idly, oddly uncomfortable with the silence. "There's not much foh the wind ta whip around while you're ridin'."

He turned and pulled off his helmet. "When did y' cut off y' hair anyway? It was a lot longer b'fore… and curlier."

"When Ah turned fourteen, Ah started wearin' it short. The heat got ta be too much an' mah dress code was gettin' more restrictive."

"_Quoi_? With y' 'skin condition?'" he asked with a peculiar glimmer in his eyes.

Rogue looked away from him and sighed. "We should get ta yoah place… Ah don't feel like explainin' all this here"

"_Mais oui_, Anna. C'mon." He walked ahead of her once again, leading her to the elevator.

"Who pays foh this place anyway?" Rogue asked curiously as Remy pressed the up button.

"De Guild… partially. _Mon père_ finances it in t' de budget." The elevator arrived and the doors swished open. Remy ushered her in true gentlemanly form and pressed the button for the fourth floor.

"Do ya get along better with him?" Rogue asked softly, looking down at her hands.

Remy snorted with harsh laughter. "What would y' consider 'better', _chérie_? De man is waitin' f' de day dis contract's up so I can go back home an' settle de Guild's problems."

She glanced up from her hands. "Sorry foh bringin' it up," she said in an even fainter voice. She knew his father and his responsibilities were a sore spot that could've only gotten worse with time.

"Don' be. Dat's what t'day is 'bout anyway… doesn' make it any easier dough."

Rogue forced out a chuckle. "You can say that again. Ah have no idea where ta begin. An' the truth is Ah'm still afraid of bein' here… with you."

He looked down to her and stared her directly in the eyes. "Are y' still on dat 'enemies' t'ing?"

"It's not that, it's just…"

"_Oui_… I know. M' afraid t' bring up everyt'ing too… Like when m' powers manifested…" he trailed off when he saw Rogue cringe. "Was yours dat bad too?"

She opened her mouth slightly to speak, but instead it fell closed and she settled for a small nod. She looked up into his eyes again, almost pleading with him.

"It's not too late t' go back, Anna," he whispered, feeling his eyes burn dully. He expected Rogue to look away from their intensity, but knew she wasn't afraid of them. However, the way she gazed back told him she was having trouble looking away.

"What are ya doin'?" she managed to whisper, realizing she couldn't divert her stare from his eyes. She felt herself get ever so slightly lost, and she knew that his eyes had never had that affect on her before. It was like a dull pull, keeping her gaze glued to his as if she was swimming in the red irises, slowly drowning in the darkness…

He blinked. "_Je regrette, chére_," he sighed as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the elevator wall. Rogue stared at him confused as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I do dis t'ing sometimes," he explained. "Sometimes I can help it, ot'er times I can', like right now."

"What was it?" she inquired, somewhat out of breath as she began to regain her bearings.

"It's like… a charm t'ing. Like persuadin' people wit' m' eyes wit'out bein' psychic." Noting Rogue's discomfort, he added, "It comes in real handy wit' other _femmes_." He laughed shortly.

Rogue grasped at the casualness and ran with it. "Oh," she said with a sly smirk. "So ya **kidnap** the girls an'_ then_ ya **hypnotize** them? _That's_ how ya do it!"

"Only t' de ones dat say no," he countered, happy that she caught on. They shared a small laugh and then fell into an awkward silence. Rogue's attention fell to her gloves once again and Remy's hand itched in his pocket for his pack of cigarettes.

The elevator dinged, telling them that they were on Remy's floor. Rogue blinked at the doors as they swished open and then looked at Remy. He smiled calmly and neutrally and for once, she was disappointed to not see his trademark smirk. "After you," he told her in a soft voice. She smiled meekly and exited the elevator, waiting for him to show her the way to his apartment.

She followed behind him as he took the lead once more. He fished in his pockets for keys and extracted them a moment later as they stopped in front of a door with 47 written on it. "Is this it?" she asked.

Remy nodded as he slid the key into the lock and twisted it. "Home sweet home," he murmured as he pushed open the door. He walked in, sliding his coat off his shoulders and throwing it in a chair off to the side. Rogue tentatively followed him in, watching Remy as he dug into the duster's pocket for a cigarette.

"Thought ya said you weren't gonna smoke near me?"

He walked over to the balcony and opened the door. "Y' don' mind if I do it over here, eh? Need t' calm m'self somehow. Dis is gettin' more nerve wrackin' by de minute."

Understanding completely, she reluctantly nodded. "But how did ya stop yoahself from doin' it in the motel room? Ah don't remember smellin' smoke when we were there."

Remy shrugged, placing his fingertip to the end of the cigarette to light it. It sparked to life and he took a slow drag, reveling as the smoke curled in his lungs. He exhaled a moment later, resting his arm on the rail outside. "I played a lot of solitaire dat night. Helps clear m' head too."

She glanced around, noticing a spare pack of cards on the coffee table. She reached down and picked it up. "Wanna play? Ah think we'd both be better off if we focused on a game or two than if you just sat there an' killed yoahself with those things," she suggested coyly.

"Gonna die someday,_ chére_," he murmured morosely, but dropped the cigarette anyway and snuffed it out under his boot.

She watched sadly as he pulled the door shut behind him. "Ya know, Ah knew that you had yoah gloomy moments, but Ah don't think Ah could've imagined you bein' so…"

"Cynical?" he answered for her. "I t'ink y' know where I'm comin' from when I say it's easier t' pretend de past didn' happen." He slumped down onto the couch.

She stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly in agreement. She lowered herself on the other end of the couch, playing cards in hand. "But it did happen, Remy. Ah don't think anyone knows what Ah'm about ta tell you… save foh Irene." She said the name with unintentional harshness.

Remy looked at her curiously. "T'ought y' were cool wit' Irene?"

Rogue sighed, opening the pack of cards and sliding them out into her gloved hands. "Ah haven't talked ta her since Ah joined the X-Men," she replied guiltily.

"Why not?"

She looked up from the cards. "It's a long story, Rem… Ah wouldn't even know where ta start."

He nodded, lips pursed in thought. "Hey, do y' want some coffee or somet'ing? I should have some in de kitchen."

"That would be great, thank you," she said, smiling slightly. He mirrored her smile before standing up and exiting the living room as she slid the cards back into their box. Rogue took the opportunity to let her eyes wander some more as she heard Remy running water for the coffee.

She stood up and dropped the deck of cards onto the coffee table. She walked over to the TV stand and inspected Remy's home theater setup. It was simple, 32 inch TV, DVD player, stereo – somehow she'd expected to find more in the young thief's apartment. Her eyes drifted to the mantle where a few pictures were displayed. She ran her hand along one of the frames, smiling. It was a picture of his brother at his wedding with his new bride, Mercy. Rogue fondly remembered meeting them, and a wistful smile tugged at her lips. Mercy was so nice to her when they met – Rogue recalled feeling like she belonged to the LeBeau family, even for just one night.

She traced her hand along the mantle, her eyes floating across the other pictures. There was a mini family portrait with Remy, Henri and their father, another candid shot of Tante Mattie, plus there was another with a girl that Rogue couldn't place. Narrowing her eyes in intrigue, she picked up the frame to examine it closer.

Remy stood with his arm around the girl, both posing and smiling brightly, though Rogue could see right through Remy's grin. The girl however leaned on Remy adoringly, her blonde curls flowing over her shoulders and her violet eyes twinkling.

"Dat's Belle," Remy spoke up from the doorway. Rogue raised her head from the picture and looked over to Remy.

She picked her brain for the name, trying to recall it. She tossed the name back and forth through her memories of Remy and suddenly it clicked. "She was that girl you were talkin' about… the one that you didn't like. Ya said that her daddy was always tryin' ta show up yoah father when it came ta business… the one with the jerk brother, raht?"

"_Oui_."

"So… why do ya have a picture of her? Ya two end up datin' or somethin'?" She joked as she looked down to the picture again, scrutinizing their body language.

She faintly heard him sigh. "We're engaged," he admitted in a defeated voice.

Rogue almost dropped the picture. Tilting her head to the side in thought, she placed the frame up in its spot once again before she ended up breaking it. "Engaged?" she asked with a silent gulp. "How'd ya pull that one off?"

He ran his hand through his hair, breathing out roughly. "Why don' we wait f' de coffee on dat one? Y' got y' long stories, I've got mine."

"Sure," she whispered, turning away from the pictures. She reached into her pocket for her cell phone and checked the time as she fell back onto the couch.

"Y' want t' take y' jacket off, _chére_? We're gonna be here awhile."

Her lips formed a tight smile. "Ah'd rather not. It's nothin' against you, but Ah'm only wearin' a t-shirt underneath this."

"Y' sure? I can turn de heat on if y' would be-"

"It's fine, Remy. Really," she insisted, a little too harshly. She began to wring her gloves nervously, her fingers itching underneath the leather. _This is a mistake, Ah shouldn't be here_, she though, avoiding Remy's stare as she took her seat on the couch again

Confused at her tone, Remy slunk back into the kitchen to check on the brewing coffee. It dripped slowly from the ground beans into the pot. "What do y' like in y' coffee, Anna?" he asked casually, hoping to get her comfortable again. He could tell she was anxious about sitting there; she could barely sit still, her eyes wandering around, her gloved fingers twitching nervously.

"Just sugar, no cream," she responded softly.

He got the mugs out of the cupboard, trying to put the pieces together in his head. He tried to recollect what he read of her in Magneto's profile. Simple things came to mind - _Code name: Rogue; Real name: unknown; Affiliation: X-Men, formerly Brotherhood; Date of Birth_… etc.

_What t'rew me off dough was her power description… _Uncontrollable Power and Memory Absorption through skin to skin contact. _It said somet'ing along the lines of 'renders victim somnolent or unconscious dependin' on de length of de contact. Homo sapien victims are usually rendered unconscious due to the power transfer while homo superiors react differently-' _

The coffee pot beeped, indicating it had finished brewing. Remy took the pot from the maker's base and poured the coffee into the two mugs, his thoughts still wandering.

_Dere was one word dat stuck out: **Uncontrollable. **Every time I've seen her, she's dressed head t' toe. When I tried to take her hand back at the warehouse district a month ago, she pulled away from me like I was gonna hurt her… _"Coffee's ready," he announced idly, pouring sugar into both mugs.

"Do ya need help at all?" she asked from the couch.

"_Non_, I got it." He curled his fingers in both of the mugs' handles and lifted them up, strolling into the other room. Rogue looked slightly more relaxed, but Remy could tell she was still on edge.

She accepted a mug from him. "Thank you," she said with a small smile, pressing the mug to her lips. She took a sip, sighing contently. "How'd ya know how much sugar to put it?"

He smirked, shrugging. "Remembered dat y' like t'ings sweet but not too sweet. Guess I was hopin' dat y' tastes hadn't changed too much."

She took another sip. "It's funny the things we remember," she said thoughtfully.

"It's funny what happens in six years too, Anna," Remy replied, his voice even.

She stared at him over the rim of her mug, leaning back into the arm of the couch. "Where do we begin, Remy?"

"Well…" _No better way y' start dis._ "I jus' have a quick question… Can y' answer dat for me? Maybe it'll spark up a conversation so we're not awkwardly sittin' here." He placed his mug on the table and then leaned back into the couch.

She shrugged. "Sure, Ah guess we should both be pretty open if we're gonna do this, raht?"

"_Bien_." He paused for a moment, figuring out how to word what had been plaguing his thoughts in the kitchen. _T' hell wit' it._ "Y' can' control y' powers, can you?" he asked abruptly.

The air caught in Rogue's lungs. Her eyes hardened for a moment, glaring at him for his brusque question, but then after a moment, the gray began to calm down and her eyes shined more green as she absorbed the question. "No," she said softly, tearing her eyes away from him and down to her gloves as she placed her mug on the table. "Ah can't."

_Merde_. "I didn' mean t'-"

"No, it's fine. Ah mean," she said quickly, looking back up to him. "It was bound ta come up eventually. Ah was wonderin' if you knew or not… whether or not it was in Magneto's file or whatever," she said with a roll of her eyes.

Remy nodded gently. "It's mentioned."

"Then why did ya ask?" she questioned defensively, her hands curling slowly into fists.

"I guess I jus' wanted t' know how loosely he was usin' de word 'uncontrollable.' I mean, y' always covered up, y' refused t' dress down a li'l bit an' I remember back when I almost touched you, y' pulled away like I was gonna hurt y' but instead-"

"Ah didn't want ta hurt you," she finished quietly, lifting her mug off the table once again. She took another sip of her coffee and stared at the mug instead of looking at him.

"Some skin condition, eh? Funny how dat worked out," he joked halfheartedly.

Rogue didn't find any humor in it. "Irene's a precog," she explained in a low voice. "She knew how mah powers would manifest and took the necessary precautions so Ah wouldn't hurt mahself or others."

"How did y' know dat she did dat?"

"Because," she said, sighing shakily. "The night that mah powers manifested, Mystique tricked me inta thinkin' that the X-Men were the enemies an' Irene helped her."

"Wait, what? But Irene… she was…" Remy stumbled over his words, astonished. If there was one thing he could remember about Rogue's guardian was how tender the blind woman had been with her.

She laughed harshly. "Tell me about it. Ah mean… Ah don't know how or when her and Mystique ended up joinin' forces or whatever, but she practically gift wrapped me an' handed me ta Mystique an' the Brotherhood."

"How did y' find out? Somet'ing tells me dat dear ol' Reenie didn' confess all dis t' you one day out of de kindness of her heart."

Rogue bit her lip, flexing her hands in and out of fists. "Ah absorbed Mystique a couple months after Ah moved up here… Ah found out she was playin' all of us – not just me, but the X-Men too. She had shifted into them ta confuse me an' manipulate me in ta thinkin' that they wanted to hurt me when all they wanted ta do was help just so Ah would stay with her an' the boys… Ah mean, what kind of a sick bitch takes advantage of people like that?"

She paused for a moment, her hand fluttering up to her temple. "Ah'm not sure if ya know what it's like ta have yoah mind invaded an' have absolutely **no clue** who you are just because someone wanted ta help you up an' touched yoah skin by accident. She had complete control of the situation befoh Ah could even figure out mah own head." Her voice grew louder with each sentence and Remy could only watch in silence. Her breath came out in shaky rasps as she tried to control herself.

"'M sorry, _chére_," he managed to say after a few long moments. Usually this was the part of the situation with any girl that Remy would take her in his arms and hush away her turmoil, but he knew Rogue was different. He'd seen how she'd react when he got too close for comfort. His hand yearned to reach across the couch and grasp hers in even the smallest attempt to soothe her emotions, but instead he sat helpless, armed only with words that in the end meant nothing because the damage had obviously been done.

She shrugged pathetically. "It's done an' over with now. Ah mean… thankfully Mystique's locked up in Area 51 so she won't have the means ta hurt me or anyone else anymore." Then she laughed harshly. "Yeah raht. Ah still deal with her betrayal an' not ta mention one of mah best friends is her freakin' son! How do you deal with somethin' like that, Remy?"

He shook his head sympathetically. "I couldn' tell y', Anna, but one t'ing I'm gatherin' from dis dough… Maybe Irene ain' t' blame in alla dis, _hein_? Maybe she's just a pawn too."

Rogue snorted. "An' Ah'm just displacin' all my aggression from Mystique ta her? If ya hadn't noticed, Ah'm pissed at both of them, thank you very much. Ah know you weren't there foh any of this, Remy, but trust me; Ah've seen the memories like they were mah own – Ah know what happened an' Irene didn't do a damn thing ta stop it. Hell," she scoffed as she threw her hands up in exasperation, "she probably foresaw me blamin' all of this on her when Ah was ten so maybe she came ta terms with it years ago."

"Wait," Remy realized suddenly as he put the pieces together. "So her headaches…?"

"Visions. They got more frequent as Ah got older too. The pathetic thing is Ah didn't even know what a mutant was befoh Ah realized Ah was one. Ah didn't even know what to categorize **you** as, let alone that **mah guardian** was one! How was Ah supposed ta come to the conclusion that she was seein' an older version of mahself all those times Ah'd help her in ta bed an' get her some tea and ugh!" She sighed, frustrated. "Ah jus' feel like Ah've been oblivious mah whole life an' she's ta blame… ya know?"

"It's easier dat way," he responded delicately, his voice smooth.

Rogue nodded, her shoulders slouched forward. "A li'l bit of head's up would've been nice, is all Ah'm sayin'," she muttered.

"Do y' t'ink she knew y' wouldn' be able t' control it?" He asked gently. Without thinking, he edged towards her slightly on the couch.

"Hell if Ah know. Haven't really called her ta find out," she spat, curling one of her legs up underneath her, away from him. Her whole body itched as she felt Remy sidle towards her. _Is he testin' me or does he really not understand the word 'uncontrollable,_' she thought disdainfully. "Mah guess that with the 'dress code,' yeah, she did."

Remy watched as Rogue sighed again, hugging herself. He could tell by how her eyes just wouldn't meet his that she was done telling her side for the time being. _Time t' reciprocate_. "I haven' spoke t' _mon père_ since I left Nawlins," he began gently, hoping she would open herself up to him again. "Sure, he set up de livin' arrangements, but it's not like he needed t' talk t' me 'bout any of it."

She looked up to him, her eyes curious and slightly relieved. "Tell me about how you ended up here."

"Have y' asked y'self dat question as many times as I've asked m'self de same of you?"

"Maybe," she replied, reaching for her coffee.

"Den I guess I should start at de beginnin' wit' dat one…"

-----

_It started a few weeks after Henri's weddin'. T'ings wit' _mon père_ weren' gettin' any better especially wit' Henri gone. Business wit' de guilds was gettin' worse an' worse an' de Council was expectin' some sort of action._

-----

"Wait, wait. Ah know that there's yoah Guild, ya told me about it once when we were readin' Lapin's comics by the river. An' ya vaguely explained yoah rivals, but what is this about a _Council_?" Rogue blinked at him, her eyes demanding answers. "What the hell are you part of, Remy?"

He sighed, a small smirk coming to his face. He sipped his coffee once and set it down on the table. "I'm part of an international organization of t'ieves, _chére_. Dere ain' jus' one T'ieves Guild. Dere's de T'ieves Guild of Nawlins, of Paris, Madrid… Name it, we're dere," he explained casually as if he'd explained it a thousand times before. Rogue might as well have asked him what time it was – it would've been in the same simple tone.

Her eyes narrowed in thought. "Somethin' tells me that yoah rivals ain' just some family with trivial issues with business anymore."

He laughed coldly. "Neh, dey're not. Dey're de Assassins Guild. While we're all trained highly in de art of t'ievery, dey're all cold blooded killers. An' de worst t'ing is dat dey're good at it. De Council is like a mediator between our two guilds in N'awlins t' make sure we don't wipe each other out."

Rogue sat, speechless as her hands grasped her mug of coffee. Remy could tell she wanted to ask questions by the way her lips were parted, ever so imperceptibly. "Should I go on?" he asked her. She could only nod slightly behind her mug.

-----

_So, t'ings were gettin' rough. Papa was stressed out from de Council, who was houndin' him f' a resolution. It would be months b'fore dey came t' a conclusion dat no one would be particularly happy wit', but it needed t' be done in order f' dere t' be peace._

_De Guilds needed t' merge._

_How would dey do dat? Well…_

"Remy, y' fat'er wants t' see y'," Tante Mattie said through the cracked door of the then fourteen-year-old's bedroom.

Remy glanced up lazily from his text book, his red eyes bored. "Can' y' see m' busy, Tante?"

"Busy wit' y' studies? Never t'ought I'd see de day!" she exclaimed dramatically as she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"Never t'ought I'd actually be able t' use school work as an excuse t' not see Papa," Remy muttered as he turned back to the text. "It's not enough dat I'm studyin' anymore, is it? He's always drillin' me f' dis, tellin' me I need t' be smart an' now-"

"Y'_ père_ an' Marius have come t' an agreement, Remy," Mattie interrupted solemnly as she came up behind him at his desk. "C'mon, chil'." She grasped his arm and hoisted him out of his chair. "He won' have y' keepin' him waitin'."

He wrenched his arm out of her hand. "I'll walk m'self down dere, t'anks," he snapped coldly.

"No need t' get fresh, Remy," she warned firmly with her hands on her hips.

"Den stop bein' his announcer f' once," he spat as he stormed out of the room.

_I knew it was dumb t' get mad at Tante – de ol' sayin' "Don' shoot de messenger" couldn' have applied more here. I was jus' gettin' so fed up wit' de back an' forth of "Remy, do dis" or "Time t' face y' responsibilities, _mon fils_." I knew it was comin' down t' de line when it came t' de big decision an' how I was involved. It was months in de makin' an' every day I woke up, t'inkin' dat's it, my life is goin' t' be signed away. De worst part was not knowin' how – but dat day… it was de end._

_An' on top of dat, I felt like somet'ing inside me was wrong. Tante insisted I was gettin' headaches from stress, but I didn' believe her. Sometimes it was headaches, other times it was like m' joints were on fire, like de space in between my knuckles was achin' with _Dieu_ knows what. I did what I could t' ignore de pain – Tante did her best t' keep me calm wit' her remedies. Who knows where I would've been wit'out her dose few months, an' dere I was, snappin' at her like a li'l brat._

Remy stomped down to his father's study, not wanting to waste any time. He could've escaped – he could've run to his tree where he found solace, where he had so many memories of himself and a girl that invaded his life with simple curiosity. Unfortunately, shortly after Anna left, his father followed Remy to the tree once and demanded he never go there again. Remy tried to defy his father, but Jean Luc would have none of it. It only took one threat of cutting down the tree to keep Remy from going back there. He hadn't dared to go since then.

The door to Jean Luc's study was left slightly ajar, so he pushed it open. Most people who entered the study of Jean Luc LeBeau would be astounded by the amount of elaborate paintings and rare first edition books, but Remy's red on black eyes glared right past them to his father who sat at his grand desk, papers scattered about.

Jean Luc glanced up at the sound of his son entering. "Ah, _mon fils_. Sit, we need t' talk."

Remy stalked to the chair across his father's desk, flopping into the seat in a flourish. "Tante said y' made an' agreement wit' M'sieu Boudreaux," he said immediately. Conversations with his father never involved small talk.

"Dat we did, Remy. We found a way t' unify de Guilds an' hopefully solve our problems." His father placed his pen on the desk and clasped his hands in front of him. He stared coolly at Remy.

"Get on wit' it," Remy insisted, in no mood for hesitation.

Jean Luc was pleased that Remy didn't want to beat around the bush. "We decided, what better way t' unify de Guilds dan by unifyin' de families. So, you, _mon fils,_ are goin' t' marry Marius' daughter, Belladonna."

"**_Quoi?!_**" Remy shot up from his chair, hands bracing his father's desk. "Y' can' be serious!"

"Did I stutter, Remy?" His father's tone didn't falter once. His cool brown eyes stared unblinkingly into the mysterious eyes of his son's.

Remy on the other hand, felt as if he was going to spontaneously combust. "Dis…" he managed to say through gritted teeth, his voice shaking with disbelief. "Dis is de big decision. My big involvement t' de Guild – my big contribution." _Dis isn' happenin'. Dis is **not** **happenin'**._

Jean Luc nodded smugly, unclasping his hands from his desk. "Y' knew dis day was comin'."

"I had de feelin' y' were signin' m' life away but t' do dis?! Do y' even realize what y' doin', Papa?" He pulled his hands away from the desk, clenching them into fists by his side. The aching had returned full blown. His hands tingled painfully from the tips of his fingers all the way up his arms. _Stop it,_ he mentally scolded them. This was no time for extra distractions.

"I told you b'fore, Remy," Jean Luc said sternly, pushing his chair away from his desk and standing up so he could look down at his son. "Y' have y' responsibilities to de Guild an' to dis family."

"I didn' ask t' be part of dis _stupide maisonnée_!" Remy screamed at him before turning away. He fled his father's study, tears burning down his face from his glowing eyes. He vaguely heard his father shout something, but it was lost in the clatter of the storm door being thrown open as Remy fell onto the veranda outside. He clambered off the wooden panels and onto the lawn, his bare feet sinking into the soft grass.

_I need t' get out of here. I need a way out,_ he chanted to himself as he ran blindly along the path he'd taken so many times before. His fists shoved at his eyes, trying to clear the damn tears that he couldn't stop from falling. Rocks scuffed at the soles of his feet along the dirt path, but Remy didn't feel any pain other than that of his hands. It was excruciating – he kept them clenched into fists in a feeble attempt to dull the pain as his sprint brought him down by the river. He knew he couldn't hide there long, especially with Jean Luc's threats, but he knew he could calm down if he stayed there for the tiniest bit. By all accounts he should've gone to Mattie for a remedy to his painful joints, but another minute in the LeBeau estate was just not an option.

Remy reached up with an aching hand to rub his eyes free of his stubborn tears once more. When he opened his eyes, he saw his tree in sight. For the first time that day, Remy's lips curled into the smallest of smiles as he quickened his pace to reach it. The sun seemed to peek out of the constant late winter gray skies to shine down on the tree, widening the smile on Remy's face. For a moment, he forgot the pain in his fingers and the drama with his father as he made his way to the tire; it swung without a care in the world in the small breeze.

He remembered Anna in the tire swing, her auburn and white hair flailing around her as she giggled endlessly as Remy would push her back and forth. She would tell him to push her harder and spin her quicker; she wanted to see how high she could swing and how far she could kick out her feet, pale underneath the summer sun. _Ah promise Ah'll do the same foh you!_ She'd insist with a grin, but Remy would just push her instead.

He rested his hands on the tire, bringing it to a stop in its idle swinging. The smile on his face faded as he recalled the last day with Anna. It was such a bittersweet day – they shared their greatest moments together that last day only to say goodbye, never knowing if they'd cross paths again.

He lifted his gaze from the tire to the direction of Anna's temporary home. He could visualize her somber retreat up the hill as she waved goodbye, her gray-green eyes cloudy with tears. Remy couldn't recall a time when he'd been as sad as he had been that day. He tore his eyes away from the hill, trying to erase the vivid memory from his mind.

As if to help him forget, the burning in his hands returned ten fold. Remy cried out in pain, his grip on the tire tightening. "_Merde_," he hissed, willing the pain away. It had never hurt that bad in the months that he'd felt it. _C'mon_, he urged as he clenched his eyes shut. _What de hell is wrong wit' me?_

As suddenly as the pain returned, it drained from his hands as if it'd found some sort of release. Before Remy could even begin to wonder where the pain had gone, a sizzling filled the air. He opened his eyes and looked down to the tire only to see that it had come to life with energy underneath his fingers. The dark black rubber of the tire burned orange. "What de-"

A moment later, Remy was forced back into the trunk of the tree as the tire combusted underneath his hands. He cried in pain out as his back strained against the tree from the power of the blast. His legs gave out from beneath him and he slid down into the thick roots of the tree, the skin on his fingers scorched and raw against the rough bark and cool dirt. His face felt hot from the explosion – he gently patted his face and chest and assessed that he was, for the most part, okay.

He blinked several times and saw remnants of the tire around him, burnt and smoking. He rested his head back against the trunk of the tree, his mouth hanging open in wonderment. His red on black eyes glowed under the shade of the tree, wide with fear and curiosity.

Suddenly, it seemed as if dealing with his premature engagement wasn't going to be his only problem anymore.

-----

To be continued in Chapter Five. (smiles)

This chapter was entirely too long to keep as one whole chapter. More author notes in the next installment.


	5. The Dotted Line

**Standing On the Edge of Summer**

_The Dotted Line_

Rogue stared in awe as Remy paused to take a sip of his coffee. "_Dèsolè_, Anna, 'bout de tire. I knew how much y' liked it."

"Are you seriously apologizin' about a piece of rubber?" she asked incredulously. "Did ya hurt yoahself? What happened after that?"

"I managed t' get de pieces of rubber t'gether, left dem under a bush an' went home as casually as I could. I didn' tell anyone. Not t' begin wit' anyway."

"What? How?"

"Dere was nobody 'round. An' I was too scared of what anyone would think. I was enough of a freak already wit' de eyes; blowin' up t'ings wit' a mere touch was too much t' add t' de list."

"Lucky you then," she replied after a quiet moment. "Ah feel like the moment mah powers manifested, the whole world knew."

Remy leaned over to the table for a moment to set his coffee down. "How did it happen, _chére_?" he asked softly.

She glanced down to her coffee, noticing that she would need a refill soon. She avoided his probing eyes and gulped silently, not sure if she was ready for this. "Ah was fifteen, still in Caldecott…" she began, her voice shaky.

-----

_Irene had imposed the weird dress code, but Ah went with it an' adapted mah own style to it. Ah'd taken to wearin' mesh shirts, long flowy skirts, fishnets – anythin' ta keep my skin covered but ta keep me cool too. People always seemed ta overlook me, like Ah melted into the shadows. One of the girls from school insisted she couldn't even look at me because it made her hot herself ta see someone so layered in constant eighty degree weather. That was** so** nice ta hear, really._

_So, even though Ah thought Ah was just nobody in school, there was this one boy who saw me when no one else did._

_Cody Robbins. Quarterback of the football team. Smitten with me, of all people_.

-----

"Stop givin' me that look," she warned, though the smirk in her eyes betrayed her. _Ah know there's a cocky remark comin' in five… four…_

"Jocks don' really seem like y' type, Anna," Remy observed with a smile.

"Like you would know mah type, Swamp Rat."

"Hey, hey, dere was a time when y' couldn' get enough of me…"

"Ya were mah only friend – that doesn't even begin ta count!" she laughed. _Nice ta know that he can make me smile as Ah'm about ta recall one of mah most horrible memories. Damn mah weakness foh charmers._ "Can Ah continue?"

Ever the smirk. _Ever that damn smirk._ "Please."

-----

_Okay then. So one night, there was this school dance at some place by the river. Ah don't even know why Ah went… Ah just needed out of the house foh a bit an' it was a place ta go._

_Ah was mindin' mah own business when all of a sudden…_

She turned when she heard people approaching – two boys to be exact. Rolling her eyes, she flippantly asked, "Can Ah help you?"

One of the guys smiled as he shoved his friend forward. Rogue recognized him immediately – everyone knew Cody, even if they didn't keep up with the school's sports scores.

_Now, why the hell is he stutterin' like an idiot in front of me?_

"Uh," Cody began intelligently. "Dance. Ah mean, would ya like to? With me that is. Together." Then he sighed, knowing how ridiculous he must have sounded. His friend went through the motions of giving Cody a thumbs-up and a face-palm in a matter of 2.4 seconds. He groaned his disapproval of Cody's stunning delivery.

"Umm…" _How do Ah put him down gently, the poor guy…_ "Ah'm really just hangin' out here, an…" _Oh no, he didn't._

Cody's head dropped and his brown eyes went doe. He was actually really disappointed!

_How can Ah say no ta that?_ "Aww, hey, why not." Rogue decided. "After all, where's the harm in one dance?" She smiled at him before walking ahead of him inside. She could faintly hear Cody give his friend a triumphant high five as he followed her inside.

_Everythin' was goin' well. We were dancin', havin' a good time. Suddenly though, Cody was shoved in ta me by his friend. The guy was a real Southern gentleman about it though – he instantly got off me an' reached down ta help me up after he plowed me down accidentally. _

_Unfortunately, he grabbed mah wrist where mah shirt had ridden up on mah arm. Didn't think anythin' of it until all of a sudden Ah had a crisis of identity an' Cody was passed out at mah feet._

-----

"Ah had the eyes of a hundred of mah schoolmates on me an' Ah didn't even know who Ah was. His friend, who Ah knew as Ty from Cody's memories, was in mah face, demandin' ta know what happened."

"What did y' do?"

Rogue laughed softly. "What else could Ah do? Ah ran." She paused for a moment to look down at the coffee mug again to collect her thoughts. "The rest of the night is a blur when it comes ta mah own memories… Ah just remember being chased by the X-Men an' comin' up here with Mystique posin' as Principal Darkholme." She brought the mug to her lips and sipped the rest of the coffee inside.

"Want some more?" Remy asked, noting her empty cup. He'd been quiet throughout her story save for his few questions. He couldn't believe her circumstances and her powers. Sure, his powers had been hard to master but once he got enough control so he didn't make everything he touched explode, he could live on semi-normally within the Guild as he always had. Rogue however, seemed to get the short end of the stick when it came to the mutant power gene pool.

He offered to take her mug and he stood up, walking into the kitchen once again. "Have y' at least gotten a handle on how y' powers work?" he asked her contemplatively as he poured more coffee into the two mugs.

"It depends on the power Ah absorb… It's not that hard anymore though. The only thing is that everyone Ah absorb is kinda… stuck in mah head," she explained tentatively.

Remy peeked his head out from the kitchen, sugar in hand. "Dey're in y' head?"

She nodded. "None too happy about havin' nothin' ta do either. Some of them get in fights with the others, an' some of them try ta persuade me ta do things…"

"Sounds like mutant schizophrenia," he murmured just loud enough for her to hear. He tried to sound lighthearted, but he knew it wasn't a laughing matter.

"Hah," she barked. "Pretty close description though." She sighed, rubbing her temple.

"Are any of dem sayin' anyt'ing now?" Remy entered the living room again, mugs full of coffee and sugar.

Rogue nodded her thanks as she accepted her mug. "Lance is the freshest from the other day. He's pissed off at Pietro mostly… he's kinda mad at you too," she laughed harshly.

Remy smiled as he sank back into his seat. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. He wasn't too fond of you bustin' into the boardin' house an' makin' the guys look dumb."

He shrugged noncommittally. "Not m' fault dat dey can' handle de big boys."

She wrinkled her nose. Despite the Brotherhood being totally misguided jerks, she did have a small soft spot for them. They were pawns of the same game that she fortunately managed to escape. "Scott's also yellin' at me an' tellin' that Ah shouldn't be here," she added, eager to change the subject. "Kitty's not too thrilled with me either."

Remy stared at her, wonder swirling in his red eyes. "I wonder what kind of t'ings I would tell y'."

"Nothin' ya couldn't tell me now," she said uncomfortably. "You still owe me the bit about how you got up here, remember?" She smiled sweetly. "You mentioned a contract?"

"_Oui_… Dat's a bit more complicated," Remy responded reluctantly as he set his mug on the table. His hands reached for the pack of cards Rogue had been playing with previously. He deftly slid the cards from the box, the deck of fifty-two cards complacent in his palms. He smiled, his red eyes focusing on the slim plastic coated cardboard sliding between his fingers as he cut the deck in one hand and shuffled it with ease. He picked the card off the top of the deck with his free hand, smirking as he examined it.

He flicked it between his nimble fingers so Rogue could see the face. The King of Hearts.

She smiled, plucking it from his hand. "Are we gonna play cards or are ya gonna tell me how ya got up here?"

"Can' blame me f' stallin', Anna," he murmured.

"No, but if Ah really wanted to, Ah could find out on mah own," she countered.

Remy raised an eyebrow in thought. "Why don' you? I'm not sayin' y' should but-"

"Because that's the easy way out foh you," she scoffed. "An' ta be honest, Ah'm not sure how Ah could handle you in mah head."

He opened his mouth to reply, but closed it, thinking better of what he could possibly say. Instead, he smiled wryly before beginning to shuffle the cards again. "I was approached by Magneto about two weeks after my birthday dis year."

Rogue's forehead wrinkled in thought as she recalled, "Yoah birthday's in November, raht?"

Remy paused in his mixing of the cards to look up and smirk at Rogue. "De 27th. Y' remembered," he said, surprised.

She felt her cheeks grow hot under his gaze. "Ah remember a lot of things, Remy. Little things that Ah'll recall later, _after _ya finish this story," she told him, smirking herself.

He chuckled, his hands shuffling the cards again. "Fine, fine, Anna. Y' no fun."

"It's only fair, Cajun," she teased, her voice laced with the smile she couldn't erase.

-----

_After m'powers manifested an' once _mon père _found out, he took a lot of liberties wit' lettin' everyone know exactly what the N'awlins Guild had among their numbers. Marius wasn' too thrilled when it came out dat I was a mutant, dough dey all had deir suspicions when Jean Luc adopted dis _peu garçon_ wit' eyes like de devil. Papa told him it would benefit everyone, me havin' powers._

_So, word traveled dat I was a mutant. It was met wit' fear an' curiosity among de other sectors of de Guild, an' a bit of admiration on Jean Luc's part for adoptin' me in de first place. He was de big hero, benefactor, blah, blah, blah._

_A couple of years passed an' I was sent on missions here an' dere f' de Guild. T'ings wit' Belle were doin' okay… as well as dey could anyway. I still wasn' ready t' get married once she turned eighteen. I knew if I was goin' t' find a way out, I was on m' own because dere was no way Jean Luc was gon' figure dat one out f'me, not when he was so close t' havin' de guilds merge._

_Dat is, until dis past December 7th._

Remy cautiously ducked down the narrow streets of downtown New Orleans as a bell tower in the distance struck nine o'clock. He stuffed his hands into his duster pockets, waiting for his cell phone to go off at any moment. Belle had the tendency to call him at that time every evening if they weren't together already. It was late enough that he wouldn't be in the middle of guild business and it was also early enough that he wouldn't be in the middle of a heist.

He had to hand it to her; even they were both being forced to marry each other, she was taking it the best she could. She knew the power that awaited her for agreeing to go through with the marriage and played it off like a pro, while Remy was still reluctant as anything. He enjoyed the small relationship that they had formed over the last few years, purely because if he had to marry the girl, he couldn't go into it hating her. For the sake of not completely despising the rest of his life, he settled for merely disliking it and dealt with Belladonna's occasional petulance and her more than aggravating guild.

He sighed, feeling his phone rumble underneath his fist. He extracted it from his pocket, noting Belle's name on the screen. Flipping it open, he mustered up a smile. "Evenin', _chére_."

"Remy!" she greeted joyfully. "Where are y' at?"

"Jus' walkin' downtown, clearin' m' head."

"Y' alright? Y' sound down, _mon amour_."

He cringed. Yes, he could tolerate the girl and would even go as far to say they were friends. Yes, she was beautiful and amazing to kiss, touch, etc. No, he couldn't even begin to say he loved her and he fought back bile in his throat when she would say it to him. He knew she didn't mean it, but she kept it up anyway to help with the illusion of being betrothed.

"M' fine. Jus' needed time alone after de score yesterday."

He could hear her laugh into the phone. "Ah, I see. When will y' be back? I feel like I haven' seen y' all week!"

"Soon, _chére._ M' on my way back now. I'll call y' when I get back t' de estate, _hein_?"

"_Bien._ Talk to y' later, Remy."

He flipped the phone shut and slipped it back into his pocket with a sigh. He knew he had to get out of the engagement. Every time he talked to her reminded him that in a few short months they would be married. Man and wife. Mr. and Mrs. LeBeau. The thought of it still made his skin crawl, even after almost five years of preparation.

He spaced himself from her by taking missions abroad, by keeping himself busy with Guild business in other cities across the world. Not only did he clear his head of Belladonna, but he also pleased Jean Luc with his involvement in the Guild. Remy could care less, obviously, but he needed the lesser of two evils until he could formulate a more solid plan of escaping his supposed responsibilities.

As Remy contemplated further ideas to escape the engagement, his innate spatial awareness felt someone following him. He slowed his pace, and noted that the mysterious person slowed his as well.

Remy had ignored the person for the first few blocks after he left the jazz club he'd been relaxing at. The route was a typical one that many people trailed – at least for those first few blocks. As he grew closer to the streets that led to the outskirts of the city, he knew that the person behind him was not just a regular pedestrian. His ingrained thief training in addition to what Emil liked to call Remy's 'spidey sense' had detected the strange man's trailing tendency; plus he had also noted his change in pace when he'd began his phone conversation with Belle as if he hadn't wanted to interrupt.

Cautiously, Remy turned down an alley, knowing no one took it anywhere. It was the opposite direction than where he needed to go to get back to the LeBeau estate, but Belle could wait a few more minutes for him to call her back. In the alley, he ducked into the shadows of the night quickly, his glowing red eyes dimmed behind his dark sunglasses that he still felt the need to wear in public. _Let's see him follow me back here_, he thought with a smug smirk as his eyes adjusted effortlessly to the dark.

His hand snaked into his pocket and clasped around his collapsible bo. One might think a bo would be an odd item to carry around normally in public, but Remy never left home without it. It fit loosely in his pocket with one of the many decks of cards he had concealed in his duster.

He slid the bo out, keeping it in the palm of his hand. _Watch it be some Assassin punk sent by Julien t' start trouble f' de hell of it._ Add his wonderfully homicidal soon-to-be brother-in-law to the list of reasons Remy was so eager to get married.

However, if the mysterious follower would have continued behind Remy, he would have turned into the alley by now. Remy raised an eyebrow in curiosity, not sensing the person waiting on the edge of the street either.

"Somet'ing feels very wrong…" he mused aloud, barely above a mutter.

Suddenly, the trash cans around him began to shake and slid across the alley. They clashed noisily together and the metal lids toppled off them, clattering to the ground with loud crashes.

Immediately, Remy extended his bo and his stance shaped into an attack position. He glared around the alley, ignoring the awe he felt from the seemingly magical moving trash dumpsters and cans. "Show y'self!" Remy barked, knowing someone had to be pulling the strings. His awareness was going crazy with the interference of the constantly moving trash cans, but he knew someone was close.

He bent down gracefully and with his free hand, swooped up a crumpled up piece of aluminum foil that had fallen from one of the trash cans. With a thought and a gentle squeeze, the balled foil came to life in his hand, burning brightly with newly charged kinetic energy.

"That won't be necessary, Mr. LeBeau," a voice boomed from above.

Remy froze, his face snapping up as the alley fell silent. The metal cans ceased moving as the foil in his hand continued to glow brightly, humming and sizzling with unleashed power. "Gimme a reason I shouldn' reassemble y' vital organs wit' dis?" he threatened, his eyes to the sky.

"Because, Remy," the voice continued. A body abruptly came into view, floating down from the roof top; his silhouette illuminated by the moon behind him. "You will find that throwing anything of the metallic persuasion at _me_ will only prove to be catastrophic for _you_."

"Is dat so?" Remy countered, draining the charge from the ball anyway. _Who de hell is dis guy?_ The foil fell from his fingers and shuffled against the ground with a light patter. "What do y' want?" he asked, his voice crawling from his throat in a defensive growl.

"I came to make you an offer, Mr. LeBeau," said the man, delicately landing in the alley before Remy. The metal in the area – the trash cans, window frames, fire escapes – squealed in release around him as his trench coat flared out in an invisible breeze.

"How do y' known m' name?"

"There's not much I don't know about you, which you should know says much for a man of such anonymity like yourself."

Remy clasped his bo in his hand firmly, but stood up taller. He didn't detect any hostility from the man, but there was no way he was letting all his defenses down. He stuck the bo in the ground securely, resting his weight slightly on it. "So, y' know all dis stuff 'bout me,_ s'posedly_, an' I don' even know y' name."

The man smiled gently, his youthful blue eyes off setting the wrinkles along his gray skin. He stepped forward and extended his hand. Remy stared at it and felt power resonating from the man's palm and fingers. Upon Remy's inquisitive gaze, the older man's smile turned into almost a smirk as he proudly knew the effect that the intensity of his powers tended to have.

Remy caught the small overconfident smile and narrowed his eyes. He slapped his partially gloved hand into the man's extended one and subtly charged the material between them.

The man chuckled low in his throat. "That won't be necessary, Gambit."

The magnetic power radiating from the man swiftly ceased. Remy on the other hand, taken aback by the use of his codename, withdrew the energy from the glove. He slid his hand from the man's, glaring at him again. "Who de hell are you?"

The smile returned. "I am Erik Lensherr, but you will come to know me as Magneto."

-----

"He got t' talkin' t' me after dat. Said de underground circuit was buzzin' wit' m'name an' m' position among de Guild. An' while it wasn' widely known because de agreement was strictly Guild business, he knew 'bout de engagement."

"Ah'm sure he has spies everywhere that found out," snorted Rogue. "Ah wouldn't be surprised if he got someone in New Orleans ta talk with some sort of blackmail on them or somethin'."

"I have a feelin' I know who did talk, an' de funny t'ing is, he did me a favor when he pro'bly t'ought he was gon' get me killed."

Rogue's eyebrows knit in uncertainty. "Who do ya think it was?"

"Remember me mentionin' Belle's brother, Julien?" Rogue nodded. "Him. Y' see, both of dem are devoted t' deir guild. But while Belle is fine wit' de marriage an' de mergin' of our families, Julien is what y' could call a purist. He wasn' okay wit' de engagement in de first place because unitin' wit' m' family is a fate worse dan death, 'pparently, not t' mention I was jus' some demon orphan plucked off de streets an' not even a real LeBeau. When he found out m' power had manifested, he was completely 'gainst it. He didn' want some 'mutie freak' touchin' his sister," he snorted. "Let alone marryin' her."

"So ya think Magneto sought him out?"

"Hard t' say. Can' imagine how dat conversation would've went, but he's de main suspect in m' head."

"Wait," Rogue paused, her mind back tracking. "He thought you would get killed up here?"

Remy smiled coldly and leaned back against the couch. "Couldn' exactly do it himself wit'out pissin' off a lot of people, so it's de next best t'ing."

Rogue blinked. "Sorry if Ah'm a little confused by how nonchalant you're bein' about this."

He leaned forward towards her, a devious smirk spreading across his face. "I don' die easy, _chére_. An' many have tried, lemme tell y'."

She wrinkled her nose in amusement. "Somethin' tells me Ah don't want ta know."

"Dose are stories for anot'er day," he said with a short laugh as he leaned back again, propping his feet up on the coffee table beside his mug.

"So obviously ya took the job with him or we wouldn't be havin' this conversation," she said, urging him to continue.

"_Bien sûr_. He talk t' me 'bout mutant rights an' t'ings of dat variety, but I told him dat none of dat really interested me."

"You had yoah own problems in yoah own city. Ya never cared 'bout the outside world," Rogue muttered.

Remy stared at her coolly. "T'ought dat opinion changed de day we met."

"It did. It's just funny dat it still applied then. 'The more things change…'"

"Yeah, hilarious," he grunted. "Anyway, den he started talkin' 'bout de Guild an' I was amazed wit' all he knew. He went off on all dis _merde_ dat he shouldn' have known, but I was jus' speechless wit' how much of de inner workings he knew. De whole t'ing overwhelmed me, t' be honest. Den he started talkin' 'bout de engagement an' jus' guessed dat a guy m' age didn' want t' settle down so early.

"He knew I wasn' passionate 'bout de Guild, an' he offered me a way out. He said he would meet wit' Jean Luc an' contract me f' a job dat would be beneficial t' de Guild. I didn' t'ink _mon père_ would go f' it, but miraculously, he did. I tried t'inkin' of all de reasons Jean Luc could've possibly agreed t' it, seein' as how he was such an _âne_ t' me 'bout anyt'ing dealin' wit' de arrangement, but I guess he felt de need t' give me dis last breath of air b'fore I gave in t' everyt'ing. He knew I was an outcast among de family, an' _Dieu_ knows he loved m' powers. He saw de opportunity f' me t' use dem in a different environment an' ran wit' it, I guess," Remy said, concluding with a shrug. "He never explained t' me why he agreed to it, or how he got de Council t' let me go. He jus' came t' me a few days later an' pulled de whole '_mon fils,_ I know dis is right,' an' sent me on m'way."

Rogue was silent for a moment, absorbing his words. She took a sip of her coffee, keeping the mug to her lips a moment longer as she contemplated what Remy had told her. She could tell he was confused about the situation, but just went with it for the sake of getting away from the Guild and out of New Orleans.

She watched as he avoided her eyes, his hands carelessly flipping through the cards once again. She was losing him, like he'd lost her when she'd become reluctant to disclose anything else. However, she selfishly wanted more. As she stared at the King of Hearts, still in her hand, she asked shortly, "What are the conditions of the contract?"

He paused thoughtfully for a moment before answering. "Basically, I'm at Magneto's disposal, as are my qualities an' abilities. De only restriction in dat regard is he ain' allowed t' pinch anyt'ing belongin' t' de Guild. Dere haven' been any issues wit' dat since we haven' done too much in the way of jobs besides de whole…" He looked uncomfortable for a moment and Rogue knew he was referring to the day that changed everything. "T'ing. But it's better dan sittin' around an' waitin' t' say m'vows."

"How has it postponed everythin'?"

Remy sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair. "Belle an' I are t' be married at de end of June, after her birthday. As long as Magneto needs me, I'm up here, no questions asked. However, if my job wit' him comes t' an end, I'm t' immediately go back."

"So you're still a pawn either way," Rogue concluded, her bottom lip protruding thoughtfully.

"A voluntary one when it comes t' bein' here," he reminded her. "I don' mind de work I do f' him – well, I _didn'_ until y' showed up," he added with a smirk.

His smile was lost on her. "An' when ya go back… that's it? Ya get married and live unhappily ever after?"

"Unless I can find someone else t' contract me, which is gon' be difficult after skippin' out on de Guild like dis. Even dough de Council somehow allowed f' me t' go, no one was real happy 'bout it.

"Right now I'm on indefinite work wit' Lensherr, so I don' have anyt'ing t' worry about. I figure I've got at least anot'er year t' come up wit' a different way of gettin' out." He sighed, reaching for his coffee. "I'm hopin' dat t'ings here will pick up so it actually gets back t' _mon père_ an' de Council dat I'm actually workin' instead of sittin' around doin' petty work like threatenin' de Brotherhood," he said before sipping his coffee, rolling his red eyes. "Even dough he managed t' get de contract t' work, I got word from _mon frère_ dat he's anticipatin' me comin' home. Turns out Marius ain' too pleased wit' how close it's gettin' t' June an' I'm still not back."

Rogue's tongue darted out to wet her lips quickly as she churned Remy's words over in her mind once again. "As much as Ah would love foh you ta stay up here longer…" she began. "But what if…"

"Anna, not'ing Magneto could tell me t' do would make me hurt you; y' know dat, right?" he said suddenly, his eyes locked with hers.

She wanted to believe him, and for the life of her, she couldn't tear her eyes away from his. She couldn't even blink, afraid to even miss a moment of his intense stare. "How… how do ya know foh sure?" she asked, apprehensive of the truth.

"I told y' before – you are de only real t'ing I've come across in six years. Over dese last few weeks, I've been thinkin' about how y' really did make an impact on me. I never would've guessed it den, but y' know how y' always said dat stayin' in Nawlins was your first real slice of freedom?" He waited for her to nod slightly before continuing.

He shifted on the couch so he was facing her completely. He tucked his one leg underneath him and leaned forward onto his hand, which was placed on the cushion between them. "Well, y' were my first piece of adolescence. Sure, I fooled around with Emil and Theoren an' did kid t'ings wit' dem, but dere was always de backin' of de Guild behind us, enthusin' us t' go out an' practice what we would grow up t' be. An' before Jean Luc, I couldn' have been a kid den – I was survivin' on de streets! But you? Y' taught me what it was like t' enjoy sittin' in de sun an' do nothin' but laugh. Y' showed me how great it was – _merde_, do I really need t' go on? I'm usually not dis –"

"Tongue tied? Sentimental?" Rogue smirked. "Ah get it." Her face fell somber again when Remy didn't mirror her smile.

"All kiddin' aside, Anna. Y' know I mean it. Tell me y' do." He stared into her eyes, his red on black eyes pleading with hers.

"Ah… Ah know ya do. It's just scary, ya know? We have no idea what's ahead of us at this point, regardless of whatever promises you – or Ah can make."

Remy nodded, his eyes slipping away from hers. "An' if I do end up goin' back t' Nawlins -"

"You're not now," she said, cutting him off. "Enjoy what ya can while you're here." _Do somethin'! Ah hate when our conversations get so damn downhearted but Ah don't want ta lose the mood. _She inwardly narrowed her eyes in thought. _ Ah wonder… he's been edgin' toward me all day. He's touched me befoh an' knew about mah powers, but how would he react if _Ah_ touched_ him_? You've touched people indirectly before, Rogue. He's yoah friend, ya can do somethin' simple_. In a sudden move, her hand was over his on the couch. She smiled again, the green in her eyes outshining the gray. "Ah mean, sounds like ya have by the way you manage ta kidnap dates, here an' there."

His eyes stared down at her hand, realizing it was the first time she'd actually instigated touching between them, aside from the motorcycle ride. He smirked lazily, dragging his eyes up to meet hers at her joke. "I tol' y', _chérie_, dat's only when dey say no. Usually it's a lot-"

Once again, he was cut off, but not by the sound of her voice. Ringing erupted from Rogue's pocket and her hand slipped off his as she reached into her jacket. Remy reluctantly felt the warmth from Rogue's leather gloved hand crawl away as she flipped open the phone.

"What is it, Kitty?" she snapped into the phone, the annoyance more than apparent in her voice. Remy could hear the younger X-Man rambling away in a string of endless shrieks, but couldn't discern a thing as he glanced to the clock on the wall. They still had plenty of time before four o'clock.

He could tell it wasn't good news by the way Rogue's eyes lit up as Kitty continued. "Wait, run that by me one more time, she did **_what_**?" Kitty explained once more what Remy couldn't hear, though he figured her voice had calmed down enough for Rogue to understand because her eyes went from shocked to angry in three seconds flat. "Ah'll be home as soon as Ah can." She snapped the phone shut. "Ah'm really sorry, Ah-"

"Say no more. C'mon, let's get y' home," he said as he stood up from the couch. He crossed the room, grabbing his cigarettes of the table before retrieving his duster. Rogue was behind him, worry etched across her face. They exited the apartment wordlessly.

The elevator ride down was silent as well. Rogue bit her lip anxiously, though her eyebrows knit in anger. She had slid her hands into her pockets, away from Remy's eyes, but he could tell she was flexing them in and out of fists.

"I sp'ose dere isn' anyt'ing I can do t' help," he offered idly.

Her face softened for a moment as she looked up to him. "Not unless ya can get me ta Mexico City in twenty minutes so Ah can beat the hell outta my former principal, no." The faintest of smug smiles crossed her lips.

"Can' say dat I have dose types of connections," he admitted.

The pair fell silent once again as the elevator touched down and the doors slid open, revealing the parking garage once again. Remy led the way to his motorcycle, mutely handing Rogue the extra helmet. She smiled her thanks and tugged it on her head. In a few short, fluid movements, they were both perched on the bike, racing out of the garage.

The motorcycle flew down the roads, twisting and turning with ease as Remy commanded it to do so. The roar of the engine made the silence between them manageable, as Rogue seethed with her anger and worry quietly. As they grew closer and closer to Bayville High once again, Remy threw over his shoulder, "Where do y' want me t' drop y' off?"

"There's this place close to the Institute. Ah won't have ta worry about Logan sensin' you because he already left so if ya drop me off far enough from there Ah can run the rest of the way without the others seein' you." Remy nodded and shifted gears on the bike, accelerating more.

A few short minutes later, Rogue tapped his shoulder. "This'll work." The bike slowed, and came to a stop. Remy planted his feet on the ground, allowing Rogue to slip off the back.

He flipped open the visor on his helmet. "Y'll be alright from here?"

Rogue pulled her helmet off, handing it to him. "Yeah. Ah've gotta run though," she said, running a hand through her hair to loosen it from the helmet shape.

"I understand, Anna," he said softly. Rogue barely heard him over the hum of the motorcycle.

"Hey," she said, resting her hand on the handle of the bike beside his hand. "Ah'll see you again. Ah'll let you know how things go today… they should be fine but ya know how it is."

"_Oui_, I do." His hand itched next to hers. _Okay, dis is a sign. She touched me earlier. Dere was no reason f' her t' put her hand dere. She could've jus' said goodbye an' left._ Merde,_ dis shouldn' be so hard!_ _Just do it, LeBeau_. As he mentally berated himself some more, he tenderly slid his hand over hers. "Be careful."

To his surprise and immediate relief, she didn't recoil under his touch or try to pull away. She actually blushed slightly before meeting his eyes again. "Always, Remy. Ah'll see you later."

With a satisfied smirk, his hand fell from hers and she turned away from him. She looked over her shoulder after a few steps, waving slightly before turning again and breaking into a sprint. Knowing it was dangerous to her alibi if he lingered to watch her run away, he snapped his visor back down and shifted the motorcycle into gear.

Rogue focused on her sneakers hitting the ground as she kept pace to the Institute gates. Too many things were running through her head; funny enough, most of it was in Kitty's high pitched voice. _Scott's been abducted or something, like, I don't know for sure, Mr. Logan wasn't clear about it because Jean is **pissed** but they all totally left in a huff a few hours ago without us knowing and the Professor now wants everyone together because they're, like, totally worried about the entire thing because it's **really** shady, ya know? Jean thinks Mystique has something to do with it but that's impossible, isn't it? I mean, isn't she in prison at Area 51? Mr. Logan did say something about talking to that Fury guy but I don't know what's going on but we're all supposed to be at the Institute, **especially** you! _

Then of course, there was Remy. Rogue sighed as she pressed in her code to the front gates, her breath coming out in short pants as she paused for a moment as the iron wrought doors opened. He'd touched her again. It was through clothing, of course, and it was much more welcome than when he had in the car the week before. However, there was something about that large calloused hand on top of hers that sent welcoming shivers down her spine.

That, and he didn't flinch once when she'd touched him. He'd been surprised, sure, but not a single finger twitched under her initial contact. Whenever she'd lay an occasional hand on one of the others, save for Kitty or Kurt, they always recoiled slightly out of habit. She'd absorbed practically everyone on the team, and then the new recruits had come up with their own assumptions on how her powers worked. It tended to make them shy away unintentionally. It hurt either way though.

With Remy though, he hadn't seen her powers in action. All he knew was what he'd read in her file and possibly heard from Pietro and the others. But he hadn't come to any conclusions. He almost seemed to accept it after he inquired about her level of control. Somehow she'd expected him to react like everyone else; possibly because he'd touched her before, so many years ago without consequence and now that same skin possessed poisonous qualities. Maybe that was why she'd expected him to even be slightly anxious around her.

But nothing. She was still Anna to him; Anna with a self-imposed code name and an X across her chest on the weekends. It didn't matter to him.

_Just as his eyes have never mattered ta me_, she thought as she reached the front door. She pushed it open and ran inside blindly as her thinking continued. _Most people shy away from me after knowing what Ah was capable of – but he knows exactly what that's like._

"Rogue!" Kurt was suddenly in front of her. Rogue collided into him, sulfur smoke sifting through the air as they hit the ground. "Where have you been?" he asked from underneath her. He agilely squirmed out from under her and jumped to his feet.

"Umm… around?" she sheepishly responded as she accepted Kurt's proffered hand. "Where is everyone? What's goin' on?" she asked, even though she had the general idea from Kitty. _Keep the focus off yoahself!_

Kurt quirked an eyebrow at her inquisitively before beginning to go over everything again. He grabbed her gloved hand and started to pull her in the direction of the elevator to the subbasement, rambling on about Scott and Alex and Mexico City.

Rogue nodded and gasped accordingly once she freed her hand from Kurt, shoving Remy to the back of her mind with a sigh.

-----

Instead of going back to his apartment, Remy took a ride to Magneto's current base of operations. He wasn't too keen on going when he wasn't needed, but he hoped that maybe the others would have some information on whatever was going on in the event that the boss was even remotely involved.

He strolled as casually as he could into the sitting room set up for the Acolytes and found St. John tinkering on his laptop. "Hey, _homme_," Remy greeted.

John looked up, surprised. "'Ey, mate. Didn't expect t' see ya around here for a few more days. Figured a root rat like yerself would've been out all weekend," he joked with a laugh. He conspicuously closed the lid of the laptop, obviously trying to keep the screen's contents away from Remy.

Remy noted the laptop and vowed to find out what Pyro was hiding later. "Where's everyone at?" he asked, falling with flourish onto the couch next to John.

"Boss is off hidin' from his daughter again," he smirked, placing the laptop on the end table and out of Remy's view.

"Did he say where he went?"

St John shrugged lazily. "Somethin' about Italy."

"What about de others?"

John raised an eyebrow. "What's with the third degree?"

Remy grinned lopsidedly. "Just curious. 'M not allowed t' wonder what m' teammates are up t'?"

The Aussie rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Like ya really care, but Petey's in his room readin' an' Sabretooth is… probably catching mice somewhere," he concluded with a wave of his hand.

"So… dere ain' a t'ing goin' on?"

"Notta bloody thing! I'm goin' crazy here, Gambit. Magneto took m' damn tank too. Muttered somethin' about meltin' down the place. If ya hadn't noticed – the place is made out of bloomin' metal! It would take a lot of fire for me to melt it but noooooo!" John pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. "He did say he might have a job for me soon though, so I guess this gig isn't a complete waste yet."

Remy forced a laugh. "I was wonderin' when y' would get some action."

"It's about bloody time. Ya think he didn't trust me or somethin'," John smirked.

"It has not'ing t' do wit' how y' burnt up de car he gave y' t' use."

"That thingo was shit house an' you know it. It had it comin'."

"If y' say so…" Remy snickered as he got ready to get up. "So if dere ain' not'ing goin' on…"

John narrowed his ice blue eyes at him. "Is somethin' supposed ta be happenin'? Because if that's the case, I'm in!"

"_Non_, _non_, dere isn'. Jus' had a feelin'."

"What kind of feelin'?"

Remy shrugged nonchalantly. "I get dem sometimes."

John's eyes widened ten-fold. "What, like a spider sense?"

-----

After a long, in depth discussion on Spider-Man because it turned out that John was as much of an avid reader of comics as Remy's cousin Emil, the Cajun decided to call it a night. There had been no random alerts from Magneto that proved he had any involvement with the current X-Crisis, so Remy felt he could head back to his apartment before he gave the impression that he actually liked hanging out at work.

St. John was endlessly amusing though, so it made it worth it for the time.

"Ya sure, mate? I'm thinkin' of making some food soon – I'm sure Petey's hungry with how he's been holed up in his room for who knows how long…"

"Neh, t'anks but no t'anks. It's gettin' late – time t' be on de prowl," Remy said with a smirk as he stood up from the couch.

"Spoken like a truly engaged bloke!" John laughed, getting up from the couch himself.

Remy opened his mouth to reply, but his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. John watched curiously as Remy opened the phone and seemed to visibly relax upon reading whatever it said. "What is it, mate? One of ya sheilas?"

The Cajun smirked. "_Oui_. One of dem. I'll catch y' later, _mon ami_. Tell Piotr hey f' me if he ever comes out of his room."

"You got it."

Remy nodded his goodbye and exited the dome quickly. The cool late spring air encased him the moment he stepped outside as the dusk light shone dimly through the surrounding brush.

As he made his way around the dome to his parked motorcycle, he found his phone in his pocket and flipped it open to reread his message. Another swell of relief washed over him as his eyes grazed over the brightly lit words.

_Hey, all is okay. I'm home and didn't even leave before we got word that the others were on their way back. Don't know the damage done since everything's vague but I just wanted to let you know. I'll contact you when I can. Goodnight, Remy._

He hadn't realized until then that he'd actually been really worried about her - not for her safety because he knew she could more than take care of herself in the field – but more on the emotional side of the situation She only emitted hatred and hostility for the woman known as Mystique and the security of knowing that she was being detained in Area 51 was gone.

"Everyt'ings alright," he murmured reassuringly as he close the phone again and slipped it into his pocket, switching it for his bike keys. As he slid onto the seat of the motorcycle and pushed the key into the ignition, he thought fleetingly, _for now at least._

------

Alright, apology time:

This chapter should've been done three weeks ago, if I wanted to keep up with the writing schedule I've had with this story. However, between finishing up school, starting up fulltime at my job, drinking too much (hey, I turned 21 in January, it's legal :o), and my heart breaking with X-Men 187, I had trouble getting certain parts of this written. I'm hoping that the double chapter/super long update will appease you guys, even though I'm a horrible person.

Also, I've been horrible with replying to reviews again, plus also reviewing other people stories, so now that I'm getting back into it again with hopefully no distractions (knock on wood), I'll be able to give all my favorite writers the feedback they deserve.

That said,

Notes:

I officially hate season two. Know why? Because figuring out an appropriate time line is practically impossible because the damn season is seventeen episodes long! All I'm going to say about the topic is that _Growing Pains_ (episode one of season two) begins Rogue's junior year of high school, and the school year goes all the way to _Dark Horizon_, which is the finale of season three. Can that much happen plausibly in a school year? Yes, because it's a cartoon and the X-Men are capable of many, many things.

I seriously wanted to tear my out my hair while I tried to map out when these episodes took place. UGH!

I feel like I had more to type up while I was writing the chapter… but now I'm drawing a blank. It has nothing to do with me being hungover. Promise. (smirk)

So, to everyone, thank you for reading – you know I appreciate every reader and review I receive! To all my fellow Americans, have a happy and safe Fourth of July. Everyone else – enjoy your Tuesdays :o)

--- Courtney


	6. A Hole In the World

_Quick pre-chapter note_: I learned the hard way to not post chapters hungover. Turns out, I posted the last two chapters too hastily and didn't realize until a week later that the whole chapters weren't posted. I could blame the website for the mishap, but it's my own fault for neglecting to double check.

That said, if you haven't already, please go back and reread chapters four and five before continuing onto this chapter. Everything will make a lot more sense if you do! Once again, you have my sincerest apologies for causing such a muck-up… ugh.

Also, this chapter is organized in a strange fashion. It skips around a lot due to a majority of it being written in flashback form, so hopefully it's not too difficult to follow. Enjoy!

------------------------------------------------------

**Standing On the Edge of Summer**

_A Hole in the World_

The trip home from Egypt proved to be long and irritating. Remy knew from the moment that Magneto stormed off in a magnetic rush that things would just turn from bad to worse.

Or would that be worse to worst? Or worse to incomprehensibly awful? _Whatever_, Remy scoffed. All he wanted to do was go home to his apartment and curl up in bed for an undefined amount of time.

The Acolytes made their way back to the United States leaderless, unsure of what to do next. There was no word from Magneto on what their next move was after he jetted off to Mexico to face off against Apocalypse's glowing pyramid.

"You blokes get the feelin' that somethin' bad is happenin' right now?" St John asked as he polished his fuel tank idly.

Piotr snorted from across the aisle. "What could possibly be more wrong zan what is happening now?"

"Jus' because you an' the boss had a tiff –"

"That madman has kept me from my family for too long! The first moment I get, I am finding out where he has been keeping them and I am leaving." Remy watched as the Russian crossed his large arms across his equally as large chest and turned his hard stare forward. John rolled his eyes and continued to polish the dusty Egyptian sand from the crevices of his fuel tank.

"Will you two shut it?" Sabretooth growled from the back. "There ain't no use in moanin' 'bout any of this. We'll go back to Bayville as planned an' go from there."

"An' what if de boss man isn' dere?" Remy asked, turning his head towards the large feral man. His opinion of the man known as Victor Creed had only gotten worse as time progressed, especially with the time he spent with him traveling to Tibet in order to find Apocalypse's resting place.

And Rogue.

"What makes you think that, Cajun?"

Remy shrugged, turning his face forward again. He was so tired. His body was used to running on what seemed like endless waves of adrenaline thanks to his powers but his mind just couldn't take it any longer. Exhaustion threatened to overcome him at any down moment he had. Between being taken over by Mesmero and becoming his pawn in order to steal the spider key, and then the trip to London, along with basically road-tripping it with Sabretooth and Wolverine across the world, not to mention two weeks in Egypt was **not** what he called pleasant working conditions, his entire being had completely worn itself out.

'_M not one t' talk, dough. I can t'ink of someone who's had it jus' a li'l bit rougher dan me…_

They hadn't spoken or seen each other in a friendly environment since that moment she had sprinted away from him and his motorcycle weeks before. He was so sure that things were looking up for them, that they would be able to keep in contact and let their friendship grow back to where it used to be six years before, but unfortunately, life wasn't so innocent and naïve anymore. In fact, it turned out that life was a fickle thing that had much different ideas in store for both of them.

The times he had seen her over the last few weeks weren't anything that either of them would look upon joyfully. In fact, neither of them could explain all the details without feeling angry or lost at the missing pieces…

-----

It had been a touch disconcerting seeing himself caught on camera. He had always managed to elude video surveillance equipment effortlessly, as if part of his mutant power had been to disappear from sight in the event of a recording device. He knew Magneto had a few planted around his bases, just in case. And for fun, Remy would spec them out and avoid them with ease.

However, the one time he'd been caught on camera couldn't have been more timely.

"I think she likes ya, mate," Johnny teased over Remy's shoulder as he watched himself fall to the ground unconscious under the vampire kiss.

Her vampire kiss.

Rogue's power absorbing and energy draining vampire kiss.

He stared unblinkingly at the monitor. _She'd kissed him_.

"Too bad ya don't remembah a lick of it either. Must've been some kiss ta knock a bloke like you off ya feet," John continued as he snickered endlessly. Remy could even hear Piotr chortling in the back of the surveillance room.

He ignored it as his finger slipped over the rewind button, freezing the frame just as Magneto discovered all his Acolytes had been taken down by one seemingly fragile, but very possessed girl.

The scene replayed again, quickly and in reverse. Remy floated up from the ground as Rogue's lips pulled away from his. He watched as she disappeared from beside him while he looked around for where she'd gone. They tumbled backwards and it almost looked like Remy had kicked her off his legs instead of her leaping onto him her with her arms extended menacingly. He was raised off the ground roughly from where he'd landed with her telekinetic launch – all the while, he had been talking to her.

Remy tried reading his lips, but couldn't discern a thing with the rewinding tape. He had noted the conversation before, but was so shocked by her attack that he didn't acknowledge their moving lips. She jumped away from him with her arm extended again, as she'd been scratching towards him for the tiniest piece of exposed skin. He stood behind her as she covered herself in metal with Piotr's powers.

Remy touched the play button just as Rogue's bare hand collided with St John's face. "Y' know, _homme_," he said as he threw a smug smirk over his shoulder in Pyro's direction. "At least I went down in style. All y' got was a nice slap in de face."

"He is right, you know," Piotr spoke up, his heavy footsteps sounding as he stepped up behind Remy and pointed to the screen. "Remy put up ze biggest fight, da? Zen again, she did sneak up behind me…"

"An' ya didn't hurt the sheila either, did ya, Gambit," John quipped, hoping to take the attention away from him. Though joking, his voice was just on other side of accusatory.

Remy shrugged nonchalantly. "It's not in m' nature t' hurt a _belle femme_, Johnny. Even if she is comin' at me with dangerous skin…" His eyes looked to the monitor again. He watched as his lips mouthed "Anna" and he silently thanked Magneto for neglecting to have audio included in his surveillance. By the reactions of his teammates, they were more interested in her actions instead of what could have possibly been said. Remy sighed with relief but tensed up again as he watched himself collapse under the touch of her lips once more…

-----

Anna frolicked down the hill, her sandals swinging in her hand as her feet skipped through the wild grass. She held her empty hand up to shade her eyes from the sun as she peered ahead to the tree. Remy was already there, standing casually against the tree's trunk.

"Remy!" she called, catching his attention. He looked up from the dirt he had been kicking with his sneakers. With a smirk, he lowered his ever present sunglasses. He pushed off against the trunk and began walking in her direction. Anna noticed a bag slung over his shoulder as she grew closer to him.

Upon her curious glance to the bag, Remy's smile grew as he pulled the strap off his shoulder and let it fall to feet. "What's in there?" Anna asked, leaning down with Remy as he unzipped it.

"I brought a few t'ings t' keep us occupied so we don' have t' go anywhere f' awhile."

She raised an eyebrow. "You packed a picnic? But Ah just had lunch…" she said regrettably.

"I did y' one better'n dat, _fille_," Remy snickered, extracting a few items. First he pulled out a large, brightly colored towel, and then another. Anna bent over the bag more as Remy slipped out a little brown bottle. He presented it to her. "Forty SPF," he explained. "It's too hot f' you t' be layered t'day, so Mercy recommended dis. An' it's waterproof so we can go swimmin' too."

He handed the bottle to her and she examined it closely. After reading the back thoroughly, she threw a glance over her shoulder to Val's house up the hill. "Ya think this'll work?"

"Mercy says it doesn' even matter over fifteen, but I tol' her it was a special case," he said with a wink, producing a giggle from her.

"Doesn't it take a half hour ta soak inta yoah skin or somethin'?" she asked warily as she tossed the bottle back and forth between her hands.

"_Oui_, an' dat is why," he began as he reached into the bag once again. "… I brought dese." Peeking out of the bag were some of Lapin's comics that Remy had failed to give back. He had intended to by that day, but as it was, he hadn't seen much of his cousin Emil for that last week. Remy attributed it to all the time he'd been spending with Anna, but in the end that didn't really bother him. As far as Emil knew, his comics were washed out in the Mississippi Sound, so a few extra missing days would be of no consequence.

"Oh!" Anna gasped with delight as her eyes grazed over the covers. "Ah love Spider-Man!"

"Den how 'bout y' get y'self covered in dat stuff so we can read dem," he suggested, slipping the books back inside before slinging the bag over his shoulder again.

Anna grinned brightly and picked up the towels from the grass. "You had everythin' planned foh today, didn't ya?"

He smirked, fingering the strap on his shoulder. "Dat ain' even de half of it, Anna."

"You have somethin' else planned?" she asked excitedly, matching his pace as they walked under the shade of the tree. "What is it?"

"It's a surprise, _fille_. C'mon," he said, dropping the bag carefully once more. "Get y' lotion on."

She blushed, handing him the bottle so she could peel off her long sleeved shirt. "You said somethin' about swimmin'?"

"_Oui_, if y' want."

"… Ah don't have a bathin' suit. Not here anyway. Val didn't buy me a new one when we went shoppin' last week," she explained with a scowl. "It sounds like it would be fun too," she pouted.

"We can improvise."

"We can?"

He smirked. "Please. I got dis handled," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

She took the bottle back from him with uncertainty. "If ya say so…" she trailed off as she poured a generous amount of the sunscreen in her hand.

Remy grabbed one of the towels from the ground next to Anna and laid it out for them to sit on. "I do. I've got dis all figured out."

"Why don't Ah like the sound of that?"

"Because I be a sneaky swamp rat?"

"That might be part of it," she giggled.

-----

Remy felt Creed move next to him first. _Figure he'd be de one t' recover de quickest. Stupid healin' powers,_ he internally scoffed. Try as he could, Remy could only blink his eyes against the settling dust – his body would just not respond to his mental commands.

He shifted his eyes around. The others had begun to stir and rouse themselves awake, but they didn't move beyond that.

"Hey, fur ball," Remy coughed in Sabretooth's direction. "Help me up."

"Help yerself up," he growled in response, his body stretching languidly among the grainy floor.

"_Putain chat_," Remy muttered, willing his body to get up despite his protesting muscles. "_… merde, merde, merde, **merde!**_" he groaned as he managed to slowly roll over and sit up on his knees. "Ouch…" He ran a hand through his hair, shaking free the dust that had collected there. As he scrutinized the area around him, he heard a groan to his left and saw that it was Nightcrawler. The X-Man's tail twitched painfully around his legs and swished around in the dirt on the ground.

Remy laboriously pushed himself to his feet with a sharp groan. He hissed through his teeth as he took the few steps over to Kurt's stirring body. "Hey, _mon ami_," he whispered as he offered a hand to the blue mutant.

Kurt wearily looked up, his gold eyes dim in the pale light. "_Was?_ Gambit?"

"_Oui_. Let's get y' up. We need t' get everyone movin'."

Kurt nodded weakly as he slipped his three-fingered hand into Remy's extended one. With a slow hoist, Kurt was on his feet, wavering slightly as he caught his balance.

"I need to find her," he whispered, his eyes looking past Remy to the chamber.

"Her?" Remy followed his gaze to the eerily glowing doorway. "Rogue?"

Kurt nodded once more. "_Meine Schwester_," he explained.

Now, Remy's German was rusty at best, but he knew what that meant. He almost asked Kurt when that came about since Rogue had always been an only child as long as Remy knew her. He realized that this wasn't really the time for family tree chit chat and figured Kurt would not voluntarily give up such personal information to one of Magneto's team. Remy scoffed, but couldn't help but wonder, _what de hell happened t' her in de last few weeks?_

"C'mon. Wolverine is down dere already. He ran ahead before Apocalypse came out an' smacked us down wit' whatever de hell dat power of his was."

"I hope she's alright," Kurt murmured as the two of them began a slow trek towards the chamber. Remy glanced back and noted Victor was helping up Magneto, who seemed worse for wear. The older man glowered at the assistance but allowed himself to be lifted up.

They stepped past the archway of the final door and Kurt froze. "What is it, _homme_?" Remy asked.

"Zat's… my mother," he whispered breathlessly. He took a step towards the stone statue in the middle of the room, the woman petrified solid was inescapably Mystique. He raised a hand to touch her arm. "Mystique…?" His contact was tentative, as if she would shift back to normal as a moment's notice and startle him.

"Dat's... y' _maman_?"

"_Ja_," Kurt replied, his eyes still fixated on the statue. "It's a long story," he murmured as an afterthought as his hand rubbed along her stony arm.

"An' y' said dat Rogue is y' sister…?"

Kurt whipped around, his tail flailing behind him angrily. "How does any of zat matter right now?" he snapped.

"Hey, Gumbo."

Remy turned around and never thought he'd be so happy to see Wolverine. One, it took the attention off his ridiculous question and two, there happened to be a certain body curled up in the short Canadian's arms.

"Logan," Remy responded curtly, his eyes on Rogue.

"Take her for me." He looked to Kurt, whose attention had turned back to his frozen mother. "Elf, I'll give you a hand with that," he told him, depositing Rogue into Remy's waiting arms.

Kurt nodded in gratitude as Remy turned away from them. He slowly passed through the archway again, careful not to brush Rogue against the wall on his way. He glanced up, noting a few of the X-Men and Brotherhood members had stood up and were tending to any wounds sustained.

He looked down to the precious bundle in his arms, his red eyes dim with concern. "Rogue?" he whispered, unsure if anyone could hear him, let alone her. She groaned slightly, curling into him. With another quick check to the others to make absolutely sure no one was within hearing distance, he tried again. "…Anna?"

She didn't open her eyes, but her lips fumbled together lazily. "Hmm?"

"Y' okay?"

A frown crossed her pouting lips. "Peachy," she muttered numbly. "Where… where are we?"

Remy gulped. Of course, she didn't know considering she'd been possessed throughout the entire journey there, but would it do any good to tell her? He quickly decided no.

"We're on our way home, _chére_. Y' sit tight, _hein_?"

She nodded against his chest, sighing faintly. "Ya smell good," she murmured.

He couldn't help but smile briefly despite the situation. "_Merci_, Anna. Get some sleep."

"… kay," she said softly, yawning against his duster as he continued to walk.

-----

"Ya know, Ah never understood the Clone Saga," Anna mused as she flipped through the comic in her hands.

"I don' t'ink a lot of people did, _fille_," Remy snickered as he slipped his issue back into its plastic bag. He placed it back in his bag, taking out his watch inside and checking the time. "It's been 'bout forty-five minutes. What do y' t'ink of a swim?"

"Ah told ya, Ah don't have a bathin' suit," she responded with a pout.

He smirked, his hands sneaking into his bag again. "Dat's why I got y' dis." From inside the bag, he lifted out a girls' swim suit, tags still attached. The suit was bright green; a lavender and white floral pattern crawled along the straps and hem as well.

Anna's eyes were wide as she accepted it from him. "Where did ya get this?" she gasped. "Did ya steal it?" Upon his sly smirk, she squealed with delight. "Ya did! When? From where?"

"Not really from where… from who."

Her eyebrows just about shot up into her hairline. "Who?"

"'Member how I had dat dinner last night of 'great importance,'" he gagged. Anna nodded with a giggle. "Well, it was wit' _mon père's_… business rival. He came over wit' his kids – his son is a real piece of work an' his daughter… she's stuck up as can be. As it was… apparently she went shoppin' right before she came over." He smirked, allowing her to come to her own conclusions of the bathing suit in her hands.

She stared at the suit, her fingers rubbing the soft material. "Won't she notice it missin'?"

"De _fille_ has t' have at least twenty more, five of which were in de bag as well, so _non_, she won'."

Anna's eyes grazed over the tag. "We're the same size," she observed.

"I really didn' know t' be sure, but y' look de same size, so I figured why not."

She examined the suit one more time before she looked up with a smile. "Thank you," she said gratefully.

"Y' welcome," he replied curtly with a pleased smile.

"Let me run ta the house real quick ta change. Val's at some meetin' or whatever so she won't know about it." She excitedly jumped to her feet from the towel they were sitting on. Before Remy could respond, she was running up the hill, swim suit clutched in her hand.

-----

No more than ten minutes later, she was back. Remy caught the slightest hint of the lavender and green strap around her shoulder as she bounced down the hill and stopped just in front of him. She caught his line of sight and pulled the strap back up, hiding it underneath her tank top again.

"It's a li'l big in the straps, but it fits just fine otherwise," she beamed excitedly.

Remy smiled along with her. "_Bien_. Now c'mon. I want t' show y' somet'ing." He stood up and pulled off his t-shirt. "How well can y' climb," he asked her.

"Real good. Ah have this tree in mah backyard that Ah climb up all the time. Reenie doesn't mind that Ah do it either."

"Y' t'ink she would get scared dat y' would fall," Remy noted thoughtfully.

Anna shrugged. "She says that she trusts that Ah know what Ah'm doin' an' that Ah won't fall so Ah just kept on doin' it."

"Weird… oh well. C'mon," he said again as he grabbed a lower branch on the tree and hoisted himself up.

Anna followed behind him, mirroring where he would grab and where he would place his feet. Her toes scuffed against the bark several times as they protruded from her sandals. She muttered "ouch" more than once during their trek up the tree.

"Y' okay?" he asked as he reached the branch he was aiming for.

"Yeah. Ah didn't wear mah climbin' shoes," she joked.

After Remy settled himself on the branch, he cautiously extended his hand down to help lift her up. "We're already here, so you'll be alright," he said reassuringly as Anna's hand held onto his. With a slight pull, Anna was sitting on the large branch with Remy near the trunk of the tree.

"This is so cool…" Anna gasped, her eyes following the branch to its tip hanging over the river. The branch was thick enough for the two of them to sit comfortably side by side with their legs dangling and kicking the thick air. "How did ya ever find this tree in the first place?"

Remy shrugged, kicking off one of his shoes to their towel below. "Jus' came across it a few summers ago wit' Henri. He would come out along here t' fish an' I'd go wit' him for de lack of anyt'ing better t' do."

Anna nodded as she observed her surroundings. "So do ya just climb up here an' sit?"

"No way!" he laughed. "Dis here is de best branch t' jump from."

"Jump?" she squeaked. Suddenly, she went rigid as she looked down from the branch to the gentling splashing river below them.

"_Oui_, jump! De river gets jus' deep enough t' jump from at dis height, plus de river bed is nearby so y' don' get caught in de current."

Her eyes were still warily following the river below. "…How often do ya do this?"

"All de time, _fille_. Relax." He kicked off his other shoe. "C'mon."

"Ah don't know, Remy…" Her grip on the bark beneath her fingers tightened as Remy stood up on the tree branch. His balance seemed unnatural as he steadied himself with ease and began a casual walk down the branch.

"Jus' watch me go, Anna. It's like you're flyin' f' a whole second or two. Haven' y' ever wondered what dat was like?"

She paused for a moment, contemplating on whether or not her sandals would join Remy's on the ground below as they dangled loosely from her stiff toes. "Ah have…" she answered timidly.

"Den what are y' waitin' for?" he said reassuringly with a smirk. "I promise I wouldn' do dis if it weren' safe."

Her wide eyes flattened into a neutral glare. "Oh really? Says the boy who likes ta live on the edge an' steal from people all the time?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "Fine. I wouldn' let _you_ do it if it wasn' safe. Besides, do y' really want t' climb back down by y'self?"

"It wouldn't be the first time Ah climbed down a tree, Remy."

He sighed. "Y' on y' own den. I'll see y' at de bottom!" He mock saluted quickly her before leaping off the branch. He tucked his legs into his body midair and plummeted into the water below, laughing joyously until right before he hit the water so he could take a deep breath.

Anna peered over the branch, waiting for him to reemerge from the water. His head poked up a few moments later and he lifted his gaze to her. His copper brown hair clung to his head in a drenched mess as he grinned up to her brilliantly. "Did y' change y' mind?" he called up to her.

She looked down to her feet, which were bare. She'd registered the sound of her sandals hitting the ground faintly underneath the splash of Remy's body into the water without even realizing that they'd slipped from her feet. A small smile crossed her face as she carefully peeled off her tank top and dropped it, allowing it to float down to their other belongings. With even more caution, she stood up on the branch and slipped out of her long cotton pants. She held onto the trunk of the tree as she stepped out of them, and used her foot to kick them out of the tree as well.

"Jus' walk down de branch an' jump, _fille_! Don' worry 'bout fallin'!" he encouraged as he treaded water in the river below.

She nodded and let go of the trunk, testing her balance. The bark of the branch felt rough underneath her feet as she began a steady pace down to where Remy had sprung from. _You can do this, you can do this_, she chanted in her head, keeping her eyes on the branch in front of her. Anna had never had a fear of heights, but something about soaring from an unknown tree into an unknown depth of water intimidated her greatly. But if Remy could do it and he insisted it was safe, no problem.

_If Irene could see me doin' this, she'd probably throw a fit_, she thought offhandedly. _Or worse, if Val saw me doin' it…_

A new sense of vindication spread through her as a smirk crossed her face. The woman had continued to annoy her endlessly over the last week, protesting how much time she'd been spending with Remy and not at the house with Irene and herself even though it was _supposed_ to be a vacation. Thankfully, Irene allowed Anna to go and play with Remy as she knew it was a rare opportunity for her to have a friend.

_It's not like Valerie's mah momma anyway_, she snorted as she reached the jumping point.

"Y' want me t' count t' three?" Remy asked from the water.

"Yeah, do that," she called down, her toes curling around the branch's bark.

"Okay, _une_…" She slightly bent her knees.

"_Deux_…" She bent her arms and prepared for her launch off.

"_Trois_!" And she jumped.

A thrilling shriek ran through her throat and past her lips as she tucked in the same manner that Remy had. She stopped screaming just before she hit the water, eager to take a breath before the river's murky water gave way to her body.

Underwater, she released herself from the ball she'd curled into and spread her limbs wide. The water was so warm but such a relief against the humid air! She smiled to herself as she felt her hair floating unrestrained around her. After another moment, she moved her arms to her sides and kicked her feet under her to reach the surface of the water.

Upon her head rising from the water, she took a deep breath and wiped her face as best she could of the water with her wet hand. She opened her eyes and looked around for Remy. She felt his hand grab for her wrist and allowed him to pull her closer to the river bed so the water wouldn't be too deep for her smaller frame. She turned and faced his grinning face.

"So, what did y' t'ink?"

She mirrored his smile, jumping onto him in the water. They sunk under the surface momentarily before floating up again. "It was awesome!" she squealed happily as she sputtered the water out of her nose. "Can we do it again?"

-----

He received a few odd looks from several of the X-Men as he carried Rogue closer to the group. Cyclops froze as he helped Jean up once he saw his friend curled up in the Acolyte's arms.

"Is she…?" he asked.

"Restin'," Remy finished, holding her closer. "She didn' say much, but dere's a good chance she doesn' remember dis."

Jean stood up fully and placed a hand on Remy's arm. "At least not now," she whispered morosely. She exchanged a glance with Scott and he nodded.

"Here, I'll take her now," he offered with a firm tone.

Reflexively, Remy's hold on Rogue tightened protectively. "If y' don' mind, I'd like t' hold her. I can get her down t' on of de planes down de last cliff while y' get situated up here."

Jean's eyebrows knitted slightly at Remy's request, but she put her hand on Scott's shoulder as a sign to back down. "If _you_ don't mind," she said gently.

"Neh, _chére_, I don'," he insisted casually.

"Would you wait to go down until the rest of us are ready? You could lead us to the aircrafts…"

Remy nodded, feeling Scott glare at him from behind his visor. Remy flicked his red eyes in the X-Man's direction, a smirk pulling at his lips. "Jus' let me know when y' ready t' go." He carefully adjusted the slumbering Rogue in his arms more comfortably before striding past them. He hung back long enough to hear Scott ask why she stopped him from taking Rogue from Remy.

"Because I sensed his good intentions, Scott. He's not going to harm her. Now come on, we should help the Professor."

With a satisfied smile, he walked further away from them. He saw Pietro standing with John and moved towards them. "Y' guys alright?" he asked after he strode up to them.

"Li'l tossed an' turned thanks ta some mechanical statues, mate, an' not ta mention the instantaneous space an' time travel, but otherwise we're just dandy." John's eyes floated across the person in Remy's arms. "Hey, ain't that the sheila from the video?"

"Yeah… what are you doing with Rogue?" Pietro asked, peering over her sleeping body. "Is she okay?"

"Dat seems t' be de question of de hour, _homme_. I'm takin' her down t' one of de planes once everyone's ready."

"Well, lookit you, Mistah In-Charge," John laughed before wincing and wrapping an arm around his torso.

"Guess dey tossed y' 'round pretty good, eh _mon ami_?"

"It was crazy! They were relentless, mate! Pietro, tell 'im how they would not bloody die!"

"…Remy?"

_Merde_! He looked down and saw Rogue begin to stir. "Shh, _p'tite._ Y' friends'll get y' home soon," he soothed, glimpsing at his teammates momentarily. They exchanged smug glances.

"…but…"

"Shh, Rogue." S'il vous plait, _be quiet_!

"So you two are acquainted, I see?" Pietro asked haughtily, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Hey, she absorbed all of us, _hein_? Wouldn' be surprised if she knew somet'ing as simple as m' real name from dat," he explained with ease as he adjusted her in his arms again.

"Sure, mate. An' here I thought ya woulda said that not even the unconscious ones are safe from you," John joked again, laughing and grimacing at the same time.

"Well, I didn' say dey weren'," Remy smirked before turning away. When he had put enough distance between them, he whispered to her, "What are y' tryin' t' do, _chére_? Y' can' go an' get us in trouble by implicatin' de two of us wit' de boys like dat." He smiled despite himself.

"…Sorry," she mumbled with a yawn. She wearily blinked her eyes open. "Are we goin' home yet?" she asked slowly, her eyes trying to take in her surroundings.

"Almost, Anna," he murmured. "Don' y' worry none."

"… You're not gonna leave me, are ya?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"I'll stay wit' y' as long as I can. I promise."

She nodded faintly as she closed her eyes again and her eyebrows narrowed in pain. "Mah head hurts," she whimpered after she buried her face into his chest.

"Try an' sleep," he advised in a soothing tone.

"Ah feel so… blank…" she murmured softly.

Unsure of how to respond to her, he glanced to the others briefly. Kurt and Logan were carrying the Mystique statue out of the chamber while Jean levitated the Professor into his wheelchair. Piotr was being unnecessarily checked for bruises and wounds by Kitty, while Storm tended to a gash across Bobby's forehead.

Once he was certain that everyone was preoccupied, he leaned his head down and pressed a chaste kiss on the top of her head. "I owed y' dat one, _chérie_," he whispered.

She sighed softly and Remy felt her breathing even out and deepen. She'd fallen back asleep.

-----

After two more climbs up the tree and two more jumps into the river, Anna and Remy were exhausted. They sat in the grass just off the river bank, towel dried to the best of their ability. Anna sat wrapped in her towel while Remy sat on his with his legs extended out in front of him.

"You're lucky ya don't burn," Anna commented, squinting underneath the bright sun.

He shrugged. "I do sometimes, but not often. But y' don' even know if you'd burn with how y' stay covered up," he countered.

"An' Ah'd rather not take mah chances, thanks," she smiled. Her hair was a tangled mess that she'd managed to towel dry enough so it didn't drip all over her, but she knew she wasn't going to get away with swimming. "Ah wonder what Val'll say when Ah go back," she mused aloud. "She'll probably get on mah case that I went swimmin' or somethin' like that."

"Why do y' care?"

"Because she annoys me, an' I wanna make her mad," she responded with a smirk. "She's been drivin' me up the wall the last few days. Ah'm just happy Irene has got mah back foh everythin', ya know?"

Remy nodded. "Dat woman is weird. Good t'ing y' only have t' live wit' her a li'l longer…" His eyes fell from Anna down to his toes wiggling in the sunlight. He wasn't looking forward to the end of the summer at all.

"Seriously." She turned and caught Remy's crestfallen gaze. "Ah'm gonna miss you, though," she added.

"I know, _fille_. This last week has been so much fun."

She smiled. "It has. Ah kinda don't want ta go back even though Ah know Ah'll have to."

"_Oui_…" he trailed off. He didn't want to think of her leaving. "Hey, are y' hungry yet?" he asked, hoping for a topic change.

Anna nodded. "Yeah… it's been awhile since lunch, plus all that swimmin'… what did ya have in mind?"

"Tante said she'd cook t'night if y' wanted t' come over," he suggested.

"Really?" Her eyes lit up. "Ah haven't been ta yoah house yet."

"An' I figure de break from Val will help too," he added with a smirk.

"How can Ah say no ta that?" she laughed. "Ah should tell Irene so she doesn't worry," she said, gathering the towel around her as she stood up.

"Want me t' go wit' y'?"

She smiled before she turned towards the tree to collect her shoes and clothes. "If ya want. Ah'm gonna get cleaned up while Ah'm there. Ah don't want ta track mud in ta yoah house."

He stood and picked up his towel from the grass. "Why? It wouldn' be de first time someone's done dat," he joked as he joined her under the tree.

"Shuttup, you know what Ah meant, Swamp Rat."

"_Oui_, I know." He slipped his feet into his sneakers and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. "I'll come wit' y' dough. Dat is, if y' don' mind me trackin' mud in t' de house," he included slyly.

She shoved him with a giggle. "You can be so annoyin' sometimes," she cried exasperatedly.

"I t'ink y' f'get I'm a guy sometimes," he teased.

"As if that explains everythin'," she snickered as she picked up her discarded clothes. "C'mon, the sooner Ah get cleaned up, the sooner Ah can go home with ya!" She excitedly ran ahead of him up the hill.

He smirked as he ran to catch up to her. It was going to be interesting, to say the least…

-----

Remy stumbled into the elevator, drained of all energy and emotion. He fumbled for the button for his floor, pressing it lazily before leaning against the wall. How he had managed to drive his motorcycle home from the warehouse without crashing into anything and everything was beyond him. It was like he'd detached himself from his body and allowed the Harley to drive itself home.

He reached into his pocket for his cell phone, realizing he hadn't checked it in days, if not weeks at that point. He had been sick with grief for Rogue and then everything with Magneto disintegrating by Apocalypse… he'd left it at the base and hadn't bothered himself with it. Flipping it open, he noted numerous missed calls spanning over the last three weeks. Miraculously the phone's battery hadn't managed to die over the duration of idle time.

As Remy scanned the missed calls and messages, he forlornly noted that none of them were from Rogue. Sighing, he counted the amount of calls from Belle, Emil, and Henri. Belle's last call had been two days before while Emil and Henri's centered around the last forty-eight hours. He looked at the voicemail menu.

Ten new voicemails.

"_Merde_, y' guys are killin' me," he groaned as he put he phone up to his ear in order to listen to the voicemails.

**First message**. _"Remy, _amour_, it's Belle. Y' need t' call me as soon as y' get dis. De Council has gone mad wit' de news 'bout y' boss. One of our contacts found out an' told my guild. It's not lookin' so good, _cher_. Call me back!"_

_What de…_ Remy thought, pressing a button to reveal the next message. The elevator dinged above him, signaling that he'd reached his floor. As the doors slid open and Remy stepped out in the direction of his apartment, Emil's voice rang in his ear.

"_Remy, dere is some _fou merde_ goin' on right now. Where de hell are y'? Call us back, _sur-le-champ_!"_

With his eyebrows knit in frustration, he fished in his pockets with his free hand for his keys while the other hand pressed next on his phone. He pushed the key into the lock without a second thought and pushed open the door, listening to Henri's message. It started out full of static and it took Remy a moment to discern what his brother had in fact said.

"Frère,_ de Assassins… dey have Papa_."

"_Dieu!_" Remy gasped, hitting 'cancel' before the message could finish, along with the rest of the messages. He slammed the door behind him, pressing the speed dial for his brother as quickly as he could.

Remy glanced around his apartment as he waited for the phone to ring in his ear. Something didn't feel right… like he wasn't alone. His spatial awareness reached out around him, feeling a body practically on top of him from behind. He whipped around, immediately jumping into a defense position, the phone dropping from his hand as he deftly reached into his pocket for some cards.

However, his entire body went slack when he realized who he was staring at.

Curled up in the chair was none other than Rogue. Her eyes blinked wearily at him, her makeup smudged and trailing down her cheeks with the tears she had obviously shed prior to him being there. "Anna?" he whispered as he took a tentative step towards her.

She slowly sat up, detangling herself from the extra jacket she'd found lying around the apartment. "Ah'm sorry, Remy… Ah had no where else ta go." She avoided his eyes, embarrassed by the state he'd caught her in.

Instantly, he knelt beside her at the chair. He watched as she wiped away another falling tear, smearing her makeup some more. "Ah… Ah…"

"Frère_? Remy?"_ Henri could be heard from the floor where Remy's phone had unceremoniously landed.

All his attention was focused on Rogue though. "Anna… how did y' get in here?"

"Ah… killed her, Remy," she responded numbly, refusing to look directly at him. Her eyes were wide with panic as she said those words.

Remy's eyebrows raised in confusion. "_Quoi, chére?_" He somehow managed to not shout the words at her but instead soothed them past his throat, despite his utter lack of understanding.

Finally, her eyes shifted to where he could see the gray-green eyes clearly locked with his. A lone tear slid down her cheek, but this time she didn't move to wipe it away. "…Ah killed Mystique."

-------------------------------------

Why, hello there, everyone! You know that one scene that you have in your head for weeks but you know you can't write until you get to that particular chapter? Well, that would be the last scene up there. I've had it in my mind's eye for SO long and I actually wrote it first before any other scene in this chapter, hehe.

That said, welcome to the cliffhanger. Enjoy your stay until I pump out the next chapter.

Hopefully the organization of the scenes didn't throw you off too much… I felt like being a bit more experimental with it this time around. Let me know how you liked that aspect of the chapter as well when you review. (smirk)

Umm… no real notes this chapter that I can think of that won't be explained come next chapter… If you have any real questions/concerns, feel free to ask away. The last thing I want to do is confuse anyone. Really. (smiles)

As always, love to you all, especially if you went back to reread the last two chapters previous to this. I still feel like a total idiot for messing that up as brilliantly as I did. (sighs) I learned my lesson though, no worries.

Okay, too much rambling. Till next time…

---- Courtney


	7. Between Rupture and Rapture

**Standing On the Edge of Summer**

_Between Rapture and Rupture_

Remy stared at her blankly as he tried to absorb her words. Henri had presumably hung up from Remy's previous call and was currently attempting to call back, because Remy could hear the phone ringing from the floor, although he had no intention of picking it up at that moment.

"Anna…" he began, unsure of what exactly to say. "…How could y' have? Ain' she a statue?" _Smooth, LeBeau_, he scolded himself.

Her face fell and she looked down to her gloved hands. "…She _was_ a statue," she corrected him coldly. "Ah… pushed her off a cliff."

He opened his mouth to respond, but thought better of it. _Don' jump down her t'roat, Remy_, he told himself. He knew he had a knack for asking inappropriate questions and knew how sensitive the situation at hand was. Remaining objective while Rogue talked about shoving her petrified mother off a cliff was proving to be slightly difficult. The situation seemed absurd enough out of context, but then again, when were things normal for either of them? "When did y' do dat?" he managed to ask softly, resting his hand on the arm of the chair.

"Last night," she sniffled. Her watery eyes focused on his hand, as if it were too close for comfort.

"An' den y' came here?"

She nodded. "Ah didn't know where else Ah could go… Ah couldn't stay at the institute, not with Kurt." Fresh tears spilled out of her eyes as she looked at him again. "You should have heard him, Remy," she whimpered. "Ah've never heard him cry befoh an' it's…" she sighed and rubbed her gloved hand across her face again. More makeup smudged in its wake.

He stared at her neutrally, once again uncertain of how to continue the conversation. Once again, his mouth would hang open for a second and then shut, words of comfort failing to pass his lips. Rogue slipped a hand through her hair shakily, and Remy noted how the white and auburn strands had begun to cling together with the natural oil of unwashed hair. She sniffled again, wiping her damp glove under her nose shyly. Remy heard the semblance of a stomach grumbling as she curled into the chair further to hide it.

"Have y' eaten anyt'ing, _chére?_"

She shook her head as he stood up. "Ah felt bad enough that Ah broke in ta here. Ah didn't want ta raid yoah fridge."

"So… y've been sittin' here f' de last twenty-four hours?"

She glanced up to his standing form, a ghost of a smile crossing her lips momentarily. "Ah used the bathroom. An' Ah got some water too."

"Well, _bon_ den, _p'tite_," he said with a small smile of his own as he offered her his hand. "Let's get y' cleaned up an' fed, eh?" She stared at his naked hand cautiously for a moment before sliding her own gloved hand into it. Remy wasn't sure if it was because she was afraid to touch him or because she was wary of all the tears and makeup that were no doubt dirtying the leather encasing her hands. "Did y' bring anyt'ing wit' y'?"

"No… Ah just kinda ran with the six dollars an' some odd change in mah pocket. It was enough foh the two buses Ah rode ta get here," she explained in a small voice as her eyes fluttered up to his.

"Right den. I'll find y' some clothes t' wear," he replied as he assisted in lifting her off the chair. "C'mon." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders delicately before he started to walk her across the apartment.

"Ah'm sorry," she whispered as he escorted her to the bathroom.

He smirked, knowing what she referred to. "I jus' want t' know how y' did it. Dis ain' de easiest place t' break in t', I'll have y' know."

"After… what happened, most of what Ah'd absorbed from everyone was gone. But there were li'l things that stayed that Ah guess Ah held onto. Ah… Ah have crazy math equations from Mr. McCoy an' some other obscure things… Ah got lock pickin' from you."

He raised an eyebrow in thought. "Y' got dat all from one li'l touch?"

She smiled darkly. "Not that Ah can remember absorbin' anyone, but that's all it really takes."

"I see," he whispered in response. _Guess dis wouldn' be a good time t' tell her dat she kissed me t' knock me out_. "At least it came in handy," he added as an afterthought.

Rogue snorted. "Sure it did."

He dropped his arm from her shoulders to open for the linen closet door. He reached inside to find her a towel. "Here," he said with a warm smile as he handed her a large, fluffy towel. "I'll leave y' some clothes on m' bed while y' get cleaned up. I'm gonna head out real quick f' some food since everyt'ing here is three weeks old."

She accepted the towel from him and hugged it against her chest. "Thank ya, Remy. Ya really don't have ta put up with me. Ah know you've had a rough couple of weeks too…"

He put up a hand to silence her. "Hey, I'm flattered y' came here, Anna. Honestly." He sincerely smiled. "But I'll be back."

She nodded and turned to enter the bathroom. She spared a glance back to him as he walked into his bedroom to search for clothes before she closed the bathroom door behind her.

After quickly locating some suitable clothes for Rogue, Remy exited his bedroom and walked into the living room once again. He bent down to pick up his phone before he promptly left the apartment, locking the door behind him.

Ignoring the two new voicemails he'd gotten in the last ten minutes on top of the seven he hadn't checked, he immediately dialed Henri's number. He rushed down the hallway to the elevator as he pressed the phone to his ear.

"Remy!" Henri shouted into the Remy's ear before he'd even heard the phone ring on his side.

"What de hell is goin' on down dere?" he hissed hastily in response. "What do y' mean de Assassins have Papa?"

"Dey took him de ot'er night. Everyone was goin' crazy 'bout how y' boss died an' how y' didn' report in 'cordin' t' de contract-"

"I was in _Egypt_!" Remy hollered defensively into the phone. "De guild pro'bly knew he was dead b'fore I did!" He entered the elevator and smashed in the ground floor button before falling back against the shaft's walls roughly.

"I don't t'ink dey much care, _frère_. Y' know how Marius was gettin' wit' Belladonna's birthday comin' up."

"I really haven' had de time t' sit back an' wonder 'bout it, actually," he sighed exasperatedly. "Does he know dat de Assassins took Jean Luc?"

"I'm guessin' _oui_ since we all know. De Nawlins underground has gone insane wit' dis, Remy."

"An' he hasn' done a t'ing t' stop dem?!"

"Remy, it wasn' jus' any rogue group of Assassins dat plotted dis. …Julien took Papa."

"**_Quoi!?_**" The elevator reached the ground and Remy stormed out of the apartment complex. His fist dug into pocket angrily as he searched for a cigarette. He felt as if he'd never needed one more than he did at that moment. He made a mental note to yell at Henri for getting him addicted in the first place at a more opportune time as his hand grasped at a box in his pocket.

He found a cigarette inside the pack, slightly bent but smokeable, and placed it to his lips shakily. Any exhaustion he'd felt prior to the phone call had been chased away as the adrenaline from his anger fueled him. With his free hand, he touched his finger to the tip of the cigarette, lighting it effortlessly with his powers.

"Y' need t' come back… like, yeste'day, Remy," Henri said softly after a few moments. He could tell Remy had taken to smoking a cigarette in order to calm his nerves.

Remy's thought pattern on his family paused as he began to walk in the direction of a small grocery store near the complex. He took a drag of the cigarette before removing it from his lips thoughtfully. He was heading towards the grocery store for a reason other than a midnight snack; that reason was currently up in his shower, washing away crusty and dried makeup from her tear stained face. "I can' do dat right now, Henri," he responded after a long moment.

"What do y' mean y' can'?" Henri asked incredulously. "I know y' aren' big on y' responsibilities f' de Guild, but dis is family!"

"It's not dat…" Remy sighed, taking another quick drag of the cigarette, slowing his pace towards the store. "Henri, Anna's here."

Henri fell silent as he tossed the name back and forth in his head. "Anna?"

"_River Rat_ Anna," he described, knowing it would spark in Henri's mind in an instant.

"_Quoi?!_ What de hell is she doin' up dere?"

"_Le c'est une long étage , frère_..." he sighed, feeling a wave of fatigue wash over him all over again. "But she's got it tough right now. I can' leave her, Henri."

He heard Henri sigh into the phone. "When do y' t'ink y' can get here?"

"I'll figure somet'ing out, but I need t' get her off her feet an' out of m' apartment b'fore I can do anyt'ing dealin' wit' de Guild, _comprende_?

"She's in y' apartment?"

"…_Oui_. I came back from de base an' dere she was – a total mess. She's cleanin' up right now. I'm actually on m'way t' gettin' food f' her."

Henri snickered briefly. "Y' know, dat _fille_ always had a way wit' you." Before Remy could retort in his defense, his brother sighed again, relenting. "Alright, _frère_, I'll see what we can do from our side, but we need y' down here as soon as y' can manage it."

"I'll call y' when I can, but it'll be at least a night b'fore I can leave. She needs me right now," he repeated.

"So do we, Remy."

He sighed, lifting his cigarette to his lips before he began walking to the store again. "I know, Henri, but I can' be in two places at once."

"I understand. I'll let de ot'ers know what's goin' on an' dat y' safe."

He nodded, even though Henri couldn't see it. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Remy. "Wait, where's Belle in all dis?"

"No one's heard from her," Henri answered briefly with a hint of reluctance.

However, Remy didn't sense the hesitation in his brother's tone. "She called me a couple days ago… I'll have t' try gettin' a hold of her." Remy looked ahead of him and saw the store nearby.

"Good luck, _mon frère_. _ L'ensemble situation c'est une Malheur,_" he reminded him.

"_Merci_. I'll talk t' you later." He flipped the phone closed with another sigh. "_Merde_," he muttered, throwing his burnt cigarette into the street. He dropped his phone into his pocket and pushed the door open to the small grocery store.

-----

"I don't see why y' had t' get changed completely," Remy mentioned as he led Anna down the dirt path that followed the river to the LeBeau estate. Anna had insisted upon changing out of the long sleeve shirt and pants she'd previously donned in exchange for a long summer dress that fell above her ankles, complete with a summery lacy over shirt. "An' what's wit' de gloves? Are y' tryin' t' pull de entire Southern belle look?" he joked.

"Foh one, Irene thought Ah should be presentable since Ah'll be a guest at yoah house," Anna explained hotly. "This is one of the nicer outfits Val bought foh me. An' two," she said while she tugged at her gloves down on her knuckles. "Ah think the gloves look cute. If it weren't so hot all the darn time, Ah think Ah'd wear 'em everyday."

Remy smirked. "_Vous êtes bizarre, fille_."

She beamed up at him. "An' yet ya keep meetin' up with me everyday foh the last week an' a half. How does that work out?"

"Y' never did tell me how y' know French, Anna," he told her, effortlessly avoiding her comment. His brother gave him enough good-natured grief for spending his days with some random girl –

"_A river rat, no less, _frère_!"_

- But he didn't need the same lip from his friend.

Anna shrugged. "Just kinda picked it up. Ah'm no where near fluent but Ah know the basic stuff… Ah can listen to it better than Ah can speak it, too."

"Not bad. I always t'ought it was weird dat y' knew what I was sayin'."

"It's not like ya speak full sentences with me, Swamp Rat," she giggled. "Maybe Ah'll get back ta ya after Ah take French in high school. You can test me then."

"If y' come back 'round den, I can tutor y'," he offered with a wiggling eyebrow.

"You? A teacher? That'll be the day," she laughed.

Remy stopped in his tracks. "_Quoi_, y' don't t'ink I can teach?" His tone was playful, but Anna knew she'd hit a nerve.

"Well, if ya wanted ta teach me somethin'… ya _could_ show me how ya lifted that girl's watch last week…"

"Y'd like dat, wouldn' y'," he smirked, continuing his pace. "I tol' y', I'm bonded t' an oath on dat one."

Anna pouted and blew from her eyes a stray white lock of hair that had fallen from her high ponytail. "Yeah, yeah, Ah remember. You're no fun," she groused.

"Well," he started, his voice low and impish. "I could teach y' somet'ing else…"

She immediately matched the mischievous grin that appeared on his face. Her eyes shone green with excitement. "What?"

He slowed his steps, noting the estate in the distance. "We're gon' play a li'l trick on _mon frère_…"

-----

Rogue slid open the glass shower door, feeling slightly more refreshed than she had twenty minutes before. Her stomach growled fiercely from underneath the black towel wrapped around her, crying in agony for nourishment. "Quiet," she muttered to it as she dried her feet on the bath mat in front of the shower.

She wrapped the large towel around her more tightly as she tiptoed across the bathroom and reached for the door. She turned the knob gently and pushed the door open a crack, peeking outside. The steam from her shower rushed out of the open door while the air conditioned coolness from the rest of the apartment trickled into the bathroom. She felt goose bumps rise on her pale, damp skin.

She stuck her head out of the bathroom, her eyes jetting back and forth for her host. "Remy?" she called. She didn't sense him in his bedroom next to the bathroom, nor did she hear him in the living room or the kitchen. She took a tentative step out of the bathroom, all the while listening for Remy. The plush carpeting of the floor squished between her bare toes as she strolled lightly into his room. After a quick glance around, her eyes fell on the folded clothes on his bed.

Carefully so she didn't drop the towel tucked around her chest, she lifted up the shirt on top of the small pile of clothes. Smiling, she noted it was a long sleeved thermal shirt. Her eyes drifted to the rest of the clothes: a pair of track pants that would be more than long enough for her, plus a pair of socks and a spare pair of gloves. With a smirk, she picked up one of the gloves and held it up to her hand.

It was huge.

She smiled sincerely for the first time in weeks at the sight. She couldn't help but laugh softly at his attempt to make her comfortable.

She turned her attention away from the glove as heard the front door open and shut just so slightly. The rustling of plastic bags brought her to the bedroom doorway, his glove still in her hand.

The bags dropped on the counter and suddenly Remy's head peeked around from the living towards the bedroom. "Hey," he greeted her with a warm smile. "Hope y' don' mind some grilled cheese wit' tomato soup. Dey were out of _filet mignon,_" he smirked.

She felt his eyes flash down her toweled form for a brief moment and a blush rose on her cheeks. "That sounds great," she mumbled, unconsciously drawing her towel closer with her free hand. _He is not checkin' you out. It was just a curious glance – he is not leerin' at you, Rogue,_ she told herself harshly.

"Ham an' cheese, right?" His eyes met hers again, a smirk glimmering in the red irises.

She smiled gently, happy that he remembered. _That's two smiles in as many minutes_, she thought with an internal smirk. "Even better."

"_Bien_. How are de clothes?"

"They're fine," she said with another blush as she was once again reminded of her lack of clothing. "Ah was about ta change."

"I got y' a few more t'ings," he said as he came around the bend of the wall and held out a bag by its base.

With her free hand, she slipped her hand through the handle. "What is it," she asked curiously, peeking in.

"Toiletries… toothbrush, deodorant, dat sort of stuff," he explained almost shyly. It wasn't a tone she'd expected to hear from him.

She felt the blush spread to the tip of her nose and down her neck as she inspected the items in the bag, feeling completely exposed. _Oh mah gawd, Ah wish Ah was wearin' more than this damn towel!_ "Ya didn't have to," she managed to say. "Thank you."

"Don' mention it," he said with a lazy smile, his nonchalant disposition back. "I'll let y' get dressed."

She nodded, hugging the bag to her chest as she stepped back into the bedroom. She shut the door behind her, shaking her head in astonishment as she glanced over the items in the bag again.

-----

A few minutes later she stepped out of the bedroom again, her hair lightly falling slightly above her shoulders in a towel-dried mess. She'd decided to skip on Remy's gloves and kept the thermal shirt's long sleeves pulled down past her knuckles. The track pants were huge and pooled around her feet, but she cinched the tie string around her waist as best as she could.

As soon as she opened the door, the smell of simmering butter and tomatoes assaulted her senses. Her stomach lurched in response. "Hmm…" she hummed as she shuffled around the corner to the living room. She peeked over the counter to the kitchen and saw Remy pouring the tomato soup into bowls. "Ah don't think Ah've ever smelled somethin' so delicious," she murmured as she joined him in the kitchen.

He looked up and smiled. "Y' must be _real_ hungry den since it's only soup."

"Oh, Ah am," she said as her eyes hungrily floated over the food. "Ah didn't know ya could cook."

"Dis is not'ing," he said dismissively. "Tante taught me how t' after de engagement. Figured a good husband should know how t' cook," he explained, snickering and scoffing at the same time. And then he suddenly froze. "Excuse me," he said, placing the pot back on the stove top before he left her to the food.

He paced into the living room, retrieving his cell phone from his coat thrown over the chair Rogue had vacated previously. He flipped it open and speed-dialed Belle's number.

"C'mon, Bella," he urged, counting the third ring in his ear.

"_Bonjour, amis!_ Dis is Belladonna. I didn' make it t' m'phone so leave a message. _Merci!_" **Beep**.

"Belle, it's me. Sorry I haven' called sooner, but I jus' got back from m' mission. Henri tol' me what happened an' I was jus' worried since no one's heard from y'." He sighed, frustrated that he was talking to her voicemail instead of her. He imagined his fiancée had felt the same way three days before. "Listen, _chére_, jus' call me when y' get dis, _s'il vous plaît_." He closed the phone to end the call. "Dammit," he muttered under his breath.

Rogue lifted her head from her soup. "Is everythin' okay?"

He walked back into the kitchen and fell into the chair across the table from her. "_Non_, Anna… not at all."

"What is it?" She placed her spoon down so she could listen to him attentively.

"Y' know de contract I tol' y' about?"

"Yoah contract? Yeah."

"_Oui_, well… it's up."

Rogue's jaw dropped. "What do ya mean it's 'up?' Why? Does that mean ya hafta go back?'

He nodded gravely. "Dat ain' de half of it. It looked like I was skippin' out on de agreement t' de Assassins an' de Council since I failed t' check back wit' m'guild after what happened wit' Magneto, so… de Assassins took _mon père_."

Rogue was happy she'd stopped eating to pay attention because she was sure she would've sputtered tomato soup everywhere in shock. "What? Why? What would that possibly prove?"

Remy shrugged, slumping against his chair. "Dey need me back dere as soon as possible."

"Why haven' ya gone yet?" Her eyebrows knit in curiosity. "Ya shouldn' be here if they need ya down there," she insisted.

He ran a hand through his hair roughly. "Because I can' leave you," he said softly. Upon her astonished look, he added quickly, "Here – like dis, I mean."

"Remy… you've done more than enough…"

"Hey, y' came t' me f' a reason, Anna. I'm not goin' anywhere till y' sure dat y' can go back t' de X-Men."

Her eyes shifted from his as she sighed. "Ah appreciate this more than you could imagine, Ah do but… Ah don't know when Ah'll be ready ta go back," she whispered. "But Ah know Ah won't keep ya from goin' back home. Ah've already burdened ya enough."

"Don' say dat," he told her, leaning forward. "As of right now, you are m'number one priority." A faint blush spread on her pale cheeks with his words. "Why don' y' t'ink y' can go back?"

Her head dropped and suddenly her soup became the most interesting thing in the world. "They haven't looked at me the same since the night of the concert… like they need ta walk on eggshells around me." She picked up her spoon again and began to twirl it around idly in her bowl.

"De night of the concert?"

She laughed shortly, and it wasn't happy. "It really has been awhile since we really talked last, hasn't it?"

"It has been. I left y' a few messages right after I was in London…"

"Ah lost mah cell phone in the scuffle at the concert… haven't really bothered ta get it replaced." She looked up from her soup. "Ah'm sorry."

He shrugged. "I jus' wish I could've been dere f' you."

She met his eyes and smiled wryly. "You're here foh me now."

"At least I could do dat much," he responded, a smirk pulling at his lips. He nodded towards her soup and sandwich. "Eat, we can talk later."

She smiled and dipped her spoon into the soup once again. "Ah like that idea."

-----

Rogue devoured a sandwich and a half along with a whole bowl of soup before she leaned back in her chair with a contented sigh. "Ah don't think grilled ham an' cheese has ever tasted so good," she murmured, her pale hand patting her stomach.

Remy smiled. "Glad y' liked it, _chére_." He stood up and collected their empty dishes. "Y' feelin' better?" he asked as he deposited everything into the sink.

She nodded slightly. "Mah stomach thanks you," she snickered. "Ah though Ah was gonna implode foh a second there. It's mah own fault that Ah didn't eat anythin' though." Her gaze dropped to her hand and she watched her finger swirl around on the thermal material, knowing what was coming next.

"Anna…" Remy leaned his back against the sink. "Can y' tell me what happened wit' Mystique?"

She glanced at him sideways, her eyes downcast and cloudy with gray. She pushed away from the table, the chair legs squealing against the polished wood paneled floor. "Where do ya want me ta start?" she asked in a stuffy voice. She knew she owed him an explanation, but it didn't make it any easier to recall the events of the night before.

He turned and found two mugs in the drainage basin. "How about… a little blue birdie mentioned dat he was y' brother."

Her lips curled into an unhappy smile. "When did Kurt tell ya that? In _Tibet_?" She spat the location as she recalled being told by Logan how far she'd blindly traveled under Mesmero's influence.

He filled the mugs up with water and opened the microwave door to put them inside. "_Oui_, an' dat was right b'fore he found de statue an' said it was his _maman_."

She bit her lip and looked up as she heard the microwave door shut. "What are ya makin'?" she asked, straying away from the conversation.

"Tea," he responded shortly as he pressed the power button on the microwave. "Why don' y' take a seat in de ot'er room? We can talk more comfortably in dere."

She stood up wordlessly and left him in the kitchen to tend to the tea. A few minutes later, he joined her in the living room with a mug hooked in each hand. With her hands covered in the long sleeves so as not to brush accidentally against his bare fingers, she accepted the mug from him. She pressed the ceramic mug to her lips and took a small sip. "Hmm… chamomile," she murmured softly. "Thank ya."

He took a seat next to her on the couch, waiting for her to speak. She caught his patient gaze and sighed. "Remember how Ah told ya that Mystique was there the day mah powers manifested? An' how Ah said Ah wasn't sure how she an' Irene knew each other in order ta get Irene ta basically turn me over ta her?" Remy nodded silently. "Well… they've been friends since… who knows when. Ah'm not sure when they met, but Ah just know that Mystique has always been around."

"What do y' mean?"

"Val, Ronnie, Mallory, Leni… all those friends of Irene's with their 'routine visits'? They were _all_ _her,_ all along," she said in a low cold voice. "Mah real surname – Hardwick – it was just another alias of hers."

"So… y' original adoptive _maman_ didn' really die in a car crash an' jus' happened t' leave y' wit' her blind best friend," Remy concluded.

She shook her head and sighed, taking another sip of her tea. "There was some big destiny in store foh me that Irene foresaw years befoh Ah was even adopted by '_Millicent_'," she scoffed.

"An' what was dat?" he asked.

"The 'destiny'? Foh me ta raise Apocalypse, apparently. No one bothered ta fill me in completely on the goose chase Ah was on," she snorted. "Ah'm tired of everyone tellin' me that it's not mah fault, that Ah didn't have a choice, but look what it's done so far! Magneto would be alive an' yoah guild wouldn't be at war again, let alone everythin' else that's happened!"

"Y' can'put dat on y'self," he told her gently.

She shrugged noncommittally, refusing to listen to him. "An' you know what the terrible thing is?"

"What's dat, _chére_?"

She took a moment to yawn. "If Ah had the chance ta push her again, Ah'm not so sure Ah'd walk away."

He regarded her with a quiet stare, his eyes flickering to her mug. "She hurt y' real bad, Anna. I know what it's like t' have dat one person dat is supposed t' care for y' de most betray y'," he whispered understandingly.

"Adoptive parents suck," she murmured shortly, leaning back against the couch.

With a sad smile, Remy reached for her mug and took it out of her hands delicately.

She watched with hazy eyes as he gathered the mug in his hands. "You drugged me again, didn't ya," she whispered accusingly as she fought to keep her eyes open. They drooped shut and snapped open again as she forced herself to glare at him.

"Dis was Tante's special blend, Anna. I jus' wanted y' t' get a good night's sleep," he explained soothingly.

"Good," she yawned. "Ah'd hate ta have ta kick yoah ass in the mornin' after ya've been so nice ta me…" she trailed off. "Ah haven't had a good night's sleep in weeks…" she added tiredly.

"_Je sais, chére_." He watched her smile briefly as her breathing continued to deepen.

He placed her mug on the table next to his untouched one. He stood up and bent down to slide his arms under her legs and around her back. He lifted her up with ease, noting dismally that she weighed less than the last time he'd held her in such a fashion.

"Where are we goin'?" she mumbled against his chest.

"Y' are goin' t' sleep, Anna," he told her, swiftly moving across the living room and into the small hallway leading to his bedroom.

He carried her to his bed and gently set her down. She instantly curled up on the mattress, hugging one of his pillows to her body. He reached for the folded comforter at the foot of the bed and spread it over her sleeping form.

"_Bonne nuit, chére_," he whispered. He heard her muffled 'night' in response and smiled. He turned and exited the room, stopping short in the hallway at the linen closet. He pulled out an extra pillow and blanket for himself.

He trudged back into the living room, throwing his pillow down into the arm of the leather couch. "So much f' sleepin' in m' own bed t'night," he chuckled as he sank into the couch. He lifted his cooling mug of tea to his lips and took a long sip until most of the mug's contents were gone.

He stared at the empty mug, feeling the tea slide down into his stomach. A lazy smirk crossed his lips as he could already feel the effects of whatever Tante mixed with the chamomile in order to create such a reaction. He yawned as he placed the mug down in its spot next to Rogue's. He wearily ran a hand across his face as his other hand fumbled sluggishly with his boot laces. Once they were loose enough, he kicked them free of his feet and swung them onto the couch in a fluid movement.

He rested his head against his pillow, stretching his arms above his head momentarily before clasping his hands behind his head on top of the pillow. "Time f' m'good night's sleep," he murmured briefly before his red eyes slipped shut.

-----

Anna could hardly subdue the smirk on her face as Remy walked her up the steps to the grand front doors of his house. Her mind mulled over what he had told her to say – that is, until her eyes actually looked at the house in front of her. Her poorly hidden devious smile fell from her lips and her jaw practically dropped in astonishment. _Remy didn't mention he lived in a **mansion**!_ She managed to plaster a placid look on her features and fought to keep it in place as Remy ushered her through the front doors.

"This place is huge," she let slip out in a small murmur as she followed him past the foyer.

"Eh, I guess it is. Don' really notice most of de time," he said with a humble shrug. He craned his head forward, glancing into the rooms they passed. "Tante?" he called as they passed the main sitting room. "I'm back an' I brought m' friend!"

"In here, chil'," a voice returned from another room, further back in the house.

"She's in de kitchen," Remy told Anna, guiding her through one hallway into another room and another.

Anna's awe overwhelmed her and she couldn't help but drink in the décor around her. It was amazing! Mink vases lined the bookshelves along the walls and crystals figurines of all varieties surrounding and accenting them, some with precious gemstones crafted into them; ornate paintings and gold leafed frames covered the walls in each room, as if one artist was devoted to each area; a chandelier seemed to hang from every single room's ceiling, glittering like diamonds regardless of the amount of light reflecting off the extravagant fixture.

"Ya sure ya don't notice this every time ya walk through here?" Anna asked, her voice faraway as her head leaned to look at a particular crystalline rose in the hallway. Her eyes absorbed the gold base, shimmering with rubies and emeralds.

Remy snaked his hand into hers and led her away from the shelf. "_Oui, _I don'," he said with a chuckle.

She reluctantly followed him, attempting to keep her eyes forward. "Ya failed ta mention ya had all this cool stuff in here."

"It's not like I can sit here an' touch any of it, _fille_. It just sits dere an' collects dust until it's cleaned up. Half of dese rooms aren' even used most of de time unless _mon père_ has a meetin' an' has it in dere."

Anna wrinkled her nose. "Oh. That's no fun."

"_Non,_" he sighed. "It really isn'." He slipped his hand from hers as they reached the kitchen. Remy walked in ahead of Anna, motioning for her to follow him. She shyly edged up behind him, seeing a woman by the stove that could only be the one he affectionately called Tante Mattie.

"Good, s'bout time y' got home, Remy. T'ought y'd stay down by the river all day," she laughed as she placed the spoon she'd been stirring with down on the counter and turned to face them. She glanced past Remy and smiled widely. "So dis is de _belle_ Anna we've heard so much 'bout," Mattie praised as she gently pushed Remy out of the way so she could take a better look at Anna. "An' look how y' dressed, chil'!" she exclaimed approvingly.

Anna blushed furiously under Mattie's gaze, unable to keep her cheeks from flushing bright pink. She threw a look to Remy that said _"Ah told ya so"_ before she looked up at Mattie. "It's nice ta meet ya," she greeted, sticking her daintily gloved hand up so as to shake Mattie's.

The older woman's darker face brightened even more. She stepped up and gathered Anna in a tender hug, ignoring her small extended hand. "She's so polite, Remy. How does she even stand y'?" Mattie teased.

Remy crossed his arms across his chest petulantly. "We've been home f' two minutes an' not only have y' managed t' embarrass me, but y' smotherin' m'guest too," he smirked.

"_Dieu_, y' know dere is no such t'ing as a handshake in dis house," she laughed jollily. She released Anna from her embrace and much to her relief and Remy's mock disappointment, Anna was smiling from ear to ear.

Upon seeing Anna's grin, Remy's eyes narrowed at her, glowering lightheartedly. "Y' aren' supposed t' encourage her, _fille!_" he hissed at her.

"Oh let it go, Remy. Y' jus' sour 'cause y' haven' gotten a hug yet," Mattie insisted with her arms wide.

Anna giggled as Mattie advanced on Remy, only to have him hide behind her smaller body for a futile shield against the larger woman. "Hey, Ah actually enjoyed that," she threw over her shoulder to the playfully cowering Remy. "Irene doesn't hug me like that ever!"

"See, chil'? Takin' it f'granted," Tante Mattie told Remy with a click of her tongue.

"Eh, y' know I love y', Tante," Remy teased as he stood up from behind Anna, swatting her long ponytail absently. She grabbed the ponytail and glared at him. He shrugged with a sheepish smirk.

"Why don' y' take her sweater an' y' two can get situated out back?" Tante suggested. "I'll bring y' out somet'ing t' drink t' chase 'way dis heat," she added as she turned towards the refrigerator.

Remy tugged on Anna's arm. "C'mon, it's dis way." He led her to the back door. He opened it and allowed her to go past him out onto the veranda. Her eyes once again were wide with astonishment as she drank in all the land around them.

"This is amazing, Remy," she breathed as she slipped out of her lacy covering. She glanced back to him as he offered to take her shirt. "How do ya not have a big head 'bout livin' in a place like this?"

He smirked slyly and draped her shirt over one of the lounge chairs lined along the house. "I didn' tell y' 'bout how t'ings were b'fore Jean Luc adopted me, did I?"

Anna took a seat in one of the chairs, gracefully tucking her skirt underneath her. "Ya really haven't gone in ta it," she replied, looking up at him. "Ah figured ya didn't remember it like Ah don't remember much of life befoh Irene." Remy slumped into the seat next to her, a forlorn and wistful frown crossing his face. It wasn't an expression Anna saw often from him and it intrigued her. She tilted her head to the side, reading the emotions that crossed his eyes. "You remember all of it, don't ya?"

"It ain' pretty eit'er," he muttered with a sigh.

Anna bit her lip. No way was she going to have him recall such blatantly less than cheerful thoughts on their day that had been going so splendidly. "When's yoah brother gonna be home? Ah want ta make sure we have our story down," she asked, her smiling face bringing him back to the present.

He looked at her again, the past gone from his eyes and replaced with the mischievousness she was more accustomed to. "He should be home soon, Mercy in tow," he snickered.

"Ya really think he's gonna fall foh it?"

He waved his hand dismissively, the very idea of failure far from his mind. "If dere's two t'ings I know about _mon frère_, is dat one, de boy is gullible as anyt'ing. An' two, de boy holds a grudge against dis girl unlike anyt'ing I've ever seen. Why do y' t'ink he gives me such _merde_ 'bout hangin' 'round you?"

"Ya didn't tell me he did!" Anna cried incredulously.

"An' dat is why dis is goin' t' be so much fun," he snickered menacingly.

-----

Remy felt a slight poke in his shoulder that jarred him awake from his sleep. His eyes fluttered opened and focused on a set of gray-green irises that blinked at him brightly in the sunlight shining through the drawn blinds. "…Anna?" he grumbled. "What y' doin' up, _fille_?"

"Rems, Ah had this idea," she whispered as she knelt down next to the couch so she wasn't looming over him.

"… What time issit?" he mumbled, running a hand over his face.

"A li'l past ten."

"Okay…" He pushed himself off his pillow. Stretching his arms over his head, he yawned loudly. He tilted his head slightly to the right, allowing the joint in his neck to crack mutely. He repeated the action to the left before looking at Rogue again. "What's y' plan?" he asked her, rubbing his neck free of tension.

"When are you goin' back ta New Orleans?"

"I tol' y' – whenever y' ready t' go back home y'self. I won' leave y', _chére_."

She stood up from the floor and sat herself next to him on the couch. "The thing is, Remy, Ah don't know _when_ Ah'll be ready ta go back. Like Ah said… they haven't looked at me the same way foh weeks an' Ah pretty much feel like Ah don't belong there anymore, especially after the other night."

"Why do y' say dat?"

"The X-Men don't kill, Remy."

"All y' did was push her off a cliff – dere's no tellin' whether or not she was gone already, Anna."

She bit her lip and ran her hand through her hair, the dark auburn and white mingling in a post-sleep ruffled mess. "Ah want ta go with ya," she said softly without looking at him.

"_Quoi_? I can'-"

"Ah've thought about it, Remy," she started, her eyes snapping up to look at his again. "Ah've been tossin' it over an' over in mah head an' Ah just need an out – even foh a little bit. Ah figure you'll need the company goin' down an' Ah reckon we'll be able ta get all that talkin' that we wanted ta do out of the way. Once we reach Louisiana, Ah can call the X-Men an' have them get me an' you can do what needs ta be done."

He gazed at her, tracing the quiver of her lips without her dark lipstick lining them, up to her bright green eyes without the shadow of black and purple surrounding them. As he took her in, it hit him - she was Anna again. The girl he'd met years ago shone through as she shyly tucked a white forelock of hair behind her ear with a pale hand peeking out from his shirt.

"Are y' sure dis is what y' want t' do?"

She nodded, her hand dropping from her hair. "Ah _need_ this, Remy. An'… the more Ah thought about it," she bit her pale lip, trying to find the words. "Ah can't leave you either. Not only as a repayment foh last night-"

"Anna, I tol' y' it's okay," he told her as he stood up from the couch and turned away from her towards the kitchen. Rogue's eyes flashed to the brief sliver of skin that appeared between the hem of his shirt and the low waist of his jeans when he stretched once more. She was thankful he couldn't see her avert her eyes from it so noticeably.

"Ah'm askin' ya ta let me be there foh you like you've been there foh me, Remy. That's it," she said insistently as the blush faded from her cheeks. She stood up and followed him into the kitchen.

Remy opened one of the cabinets to find some coffee. "I didn' do dat much-"

"Jean told me how ya were in the tomb after Apocalypse booked," she interjected, hoping he'd get the point. "An' how ya wouldn't let me go."

He turned, his eyes softer as he faced her. "Y' don' remember dat?"

She shrugged, her eyes falling from his. "Ah'm tryin' mah hardest ta fohget the bad things that happened that anythin' else is jus' gone. Ah mean…" she turned away from him to take a seat in a chair at the table. "Ah remember wakin' up when Logan picked me up, an' then the next moment Ah was with you. After that, Ah had Kurt an' Kitty hoverin' around me on the plane ride home. Ah've been kinda dependin' on people ta fill in the pieces foh me."

Remy nodded with a sly smirk. "So… what else did Jean say 'bout me?"

"She just said there was somethin' 'oddly placed' about yoah compassion," she explained with the tiniest of smiles. "Then she asked why ya would be so inclined as ta hold me when we don't know each other at all."

"What did y' tell her?" he asked as he prepped the filter in the coffee machine.

"Well, Amara happened ta start screechin' at that exact moment about Bobby freezin' the pool, _again_, so Ah got the chance ta duck away."

Remy paused thoughtfully in his preparations. "Y' haven' told any of dem 'bout us, have y'?" Realizing the wording of his question, his eyes flared up and he quickly added, "'Bout our friendship an' knowin' each ot'er before, I mean."

Rogue's eyes widened at his slip, but otherwise acted as if she hadn't noticed it. "No, Ah haven't. Logan thinks somethin's up though. He said ya were actin' different than he expected when the three of ya came after me."

Remy smirked as he turned the brewer on. "An' here I t'ought he was too busy wit' Creed t' even notice I was dere."

"He did say he was a little preoccupied with tryin' not ta kill him…" Rogue snickered.

He slid out the chair adjacent to Rogue's and took a seat. "So," he began as he relaxed in the chair. "Y' really want t' come wit' me?"

She smiled slightly and looked at him, pulling at the extra long sleeves covering her hands absently. "Yeah, Ah really do," she told him sincerely.

He leaned forward and stared at her intently for a moment as if reading for any waver in her resolve. Finding none, he sat back in the chair and smiled lazily. "It'll be nice t' not take de trip alone."

"Plus, Ah mean, it would take less time since ya'd have two drivers…" Rogue smirked as she avoided his eye contact, feigning innocence.

"So _dat's_ why y' wan' come along! Y' just want t' ride m'bike. I see how it is, _chére_. T'anks." He pushed away from the table dramatically and stood up, pretending to be absolutely insulted. He tsked at her as he retrieved two new mugs from the cabinet.

"Well, as long as you're okay with it," she teased with a grin as she watched him ready their coffee. She realized as soon as the smile had spread across her face that it was the first time in what felt like forever that she'd gotten a chance to joke around with anyone. There was Risty… but then there obviously wasn't. Kurt had tried with her as well, but she'd stubbornly pushed him away. It was like no one who knew her as Rogue could relate to her anymore.

Not that she really let them anyway.

It was different with Remy. She knew the second she broke into a sprint after walking away from the foggy gazebo that night, he would understand. She hadn't had the opportunity to hide her previous life from him like she'd been able to with everyone else because he'd been part of it, if only for those three short weeks. Try as she could, her thoughts constantly bounced back to him and how he was the clearest part of her life now that everything was completely messed up.

He looked at her and saw her for the girl beneath the nickname and dark clothes. She knew that when her gray-green eyes connected with those ruby red irises burning out from a pool of black, he saw Anna, the part of herself that she'd desperately clawed for in the last month because being Rogue hurt too much anymore.

"Listen, I'm gon' get cleaned up," Remy spoke up, breaking her out of her mental reverie. He placed a full mug of coffee in front of her, along with his cell phone that he must have grabbed while she was deep in thought.

"Ya want me ta call them?" She stared at the phone as if it would explode under her fingertips at the slightest touch.

"Y' been gone f' over a day. Y' know dey've gotta be worried 'bout y'."

"Ah know, but…"

He rested his hand on the back of her chair and leaned down so close, Rogue's hair brushed against his cheek. "De line is completely untraceable, _chére_. It's up t' you."

She kept her gaze on the phone, solely because if she moved her head, her forehead would've bumped into his chin. "Okay," she breathed, hoping he'd realize how painfully close he was.

"_Bien_," he said, standing to his full height once again. "I'll only be a few minutes. We can get somet'ing t' eat den, _hein_?"

She nodded, finally comfortable enough to shift her head and glance at him over her shoulder. When she saw him go around the corner to the hallway, she faced forward once again. His phone mocked her casually from its position on the table. _You won't use me_, it taunted. _Like you could gather up the courage to make a simple call and let the people who care about you know you're alright._

"Screw you," she snarled at it, throwing another cautious glance over her shoulder. She reached out for the phone, but halted as her hand hovered over it indecisively. She could hear the shower turn on from the other side of the apartment. She checked over her shoulder again, as if Remy would peek around the corner, dripping wet and clad only in a towel. She imagined he'd give her a frown, wondering why she hadn't made the call yet.

With an exasperated sigh, she snatched the phone off the table and flipped it open. She dialed Kitty's cell phone number, as it was the only one she remembered by heart – save for Kurt's – besides the main institute line.

It rang twice before an inquisitive voice answered. "Hello?"

"Kit?"

"Rogue?" Her former roommate's voice was instantly alert with recognition and Rogue wasn't sure if she felt comfort at the familiarity of the younger girl's high pitched voice. "Where the hell are you?! You just, like, disappeared!"

"Kitty, calm down – Ah'm okay, but Ah just needed ta get away."

"Kurt told me what happened," Kitty said in a softer tone after she took a second to breathe and collect her thoughts. "Rogue, I know that you didn't want the statue here but-"

"How is he?" Rogue interrupted, not really caring for Kitty's opinion on the topic.

"… He hasn't really said much."

"He's mad at me, ain't he." It wasn't a question.

"To be honest, I don't even think he's noticed you're gone," Kitty snapped. Rogue wanted to be upset by the bite in Shadowcat's voice, but she knew she deserved it. "You didn't answer my first question," she reminded her.

"Ah'm… at a friend's."

Kitty paused. "You're at a _friend's_…" she scoffed incredulously. "You know I don't believe you, right?"

"Ah didn't expect ya to," Rogue snapped in return. "But he wanted me ta call an' let ya know Ah was okay."

"How thoughtful of _him_," Kitty snorted.

An awkward silence settled between them and Rogue contemplated hanging up the phone. She opened her mouth to quietly say goodbye, but Kitty's voice sounded first. "When are you coming home?" she asked softly. "I didn't mean to sound so angry, but you know I hate when you do that disappearing thing!"

Rogue sighed. "Ah know ya do, Kit."

"And I'm sure Kurt's worried – really! He… just hasn't said anything about it."

Rogue felt a pang of hurt in her chest at the thought of Kurt not even mentioning her absence at the institute, but knew she honestly didn't expect anything else. "Has anyone come lookin' foh me?"

"Mr. Logan searched for you last night… I think he just got home a little bit ago. He was real worried about you too, ya know. He kept muttering about how he knew something like this would happen – with you running off like this, I mean."

Rogue winced. Instead of apologizing, she sighed once more. "Kit, Ah'm not comin' home just yet…"

"Why not, Rogue? Where are you?" Kitty asked again. Gone from her voice was any trace of her previous hostility.

"A friend's," Rogue repeated shortly.

Kitty scoffed again. "Oh, come off it, Rogue! No offense, but you haven't really talked to any of us for weeks and if you weren't here you were with Rist-" She stopped short and Rogue froze. Her jaw went slack at Kitty's words. Kitty immediately began to squeak an apology. "Rogue, I'm sorry – I didn't mean-"

"No, it's fine," she responded in a stiff, distant voice. "She… she was real long enough foh you ta say that." The door to the bathroom opened and Rogue could hear the ventilation fan turn off. "Kit, Ah'll call you in a couple days. Tell everyone Ah'll be fine," she mumbled numbly.

"Rogue-"

"Tell Kurt Ah'm sorry." She was sincere, though her voice lacked emotion. The words tumbled off her lips numbly as her voice grew softer.

"Please don't go-"

"Ah'll call you later." Against Kitty's protests, Rogue dropped the phone from her ear and clasped it shut in her palm. She closed her fist around the cell phone and sighed.

"Y' alright, Anna?"

She turned her head and saw him over the counter to the living room, standing by the hallway. He had towel dried his body off, but his skin still managed to glisten as his hair dripped on his shoulders and down his chest. Rogue caught a glimpse of the towel around his hips and snapped her face forward again. She fought the blush that crept onto her pale cheeks.

"Ah talked ta Kitty," she responded softly, hoping he'd keep his distance with so much of his skin showing. There was enough on her mind – she didn't want to add his gratuitous bare skin and how it made her feel to that as well.

"I see," he said, still across the room. "M' gonna get dressed an' den we can go get breakfast."

She nodded, not sure if he could see the small action. She didn't turn her head again, her mind partially shy by his half nakedness but mainly overwhelmed with memories of her and her former supposed best friend.

"Ugh," she groaned inaudibly, wiping her thumb under her eye to catch a stubborn tear that managed to fall.

"Hey… y' sure y' okay?" he asked her again, his voice closer.

"Ah'm fine," she insisted softly, refusing to let him see her cry again. She slid the phone back onto the kitchen table without a sound.

"Anna…" she felt him come closer and slide into the chair across the table from her. "What is it?"

Her eyes remained downcast so she couldn't see his bare muscular chest. _You've seen him shirtless befoh. Get a grip._ "Ah didn't tell you about Risty," she whispered reluctantly once she'd told herself enough to grow the hell up.

"_Non_, y' didn't."

"She was mah best friend… the first person who really understood me up here, ya know?"

"I didn' see y' 'round anyone b'fore when I'd see y' at school."

"That's because after Ah went back ta school, she was in Area 51," she snapped. "She came back in time foh me ta have a mental breakdown."

"Y' mean…"

"Yup. It was _her_ all along." She wiped another angry tear that fell from her eye, hoping Remy didn't catch a glimpse of it. She knew he did though and even attempting to hide it was a ridiculous action.

"_Chére_… she can' hurt y' no more."

"Then how come she is now?" Her face shot up and her eyes were gray and cold, trembling with tears. "Remy, Ah could push her off a thousand cliffs, but that betrayal… that whole knowledge of knowin' that mah life was a _fuckin' lie_ – that's **never** gonna go away."

He sat back in his seat, appraising her flushed cheeks and watery eyes. "Den what's de sense in runnin'?" he asked sincerely.

She regarded him with a cool glare, although her lip quivered slightly. "Just go get dressed, Swamp Rat. Ah'm hungry."

He stared at her neutrally for a moment and she pointedly avoided his gaze with a scowl across her face. With a sigh, he stood up from his chair. "I'll only be a few minutes," he told her again before leaving the kitchen.

Rogue slumped in her seat. She almost called to him – anything so he wouldn't give her that disapproving, soul deciphering red-eyed stare again. Instead, she bit her lip in frustration and blinked her eyes over and over again to keep the tears from falling.

She lifted her hand to her lips and bit down on it through the thermal material, suppressing her groan of defeat as the tears slid from her eyes once more.

------------------------

Translations (because I always forget to do these!):

_Le c'est une long étage , frère._ – It's a long story, brother.

_L'ensemble situation c'est une Malheur._ – This situation is a disaster.

_Vous êtes bizarre, fille_. – You are strange, girl.

(I don't know French. Translators are my friend, even if they're not correct.)

--------

And here we are, the end of chapter seven! For those of you following the lyrics to the song that this is loosely based around, we'll be hitting the second verse _finally_ in the next chapter. Funny how when I originally had this in my head, it was going to be three simple chapters…

That said, I feel like a whole lot of nothing happened in this chapter, but I couldn't make it any longer without having to split it up anyway, so we'll just go with this. The flashback will obviously continue in the next chapter as well. I'm going to have fun with that one… muahaha.

Rogue is just a big ball o' angst in this one, ain't she? How will the ride down to New Orleans go? What exactly happened to Jean Luc? Where's Belle? And what the hell did lil!Remy and Rogue have in store for Henri? And what other subplots am I forgetting to mention in this little 1960-esque paragraph? Find out, next time. (smiles)

As always, leave love in the form of a review. You guys are awesome, never forget that!

--- Courtney


	8. How Long Is the Night

When we last left our favorite Southern couple, they had woken up in Remy's apartment. Rogue had insisted upon joining Remy on his journey south to save his father and had begun to angst about Mystique's betrayal right before the chapter's end. Oh, and Remy was wearing only a towel… hmmm…

**Standing On the Edge of Summer**

_How Long Is the Night_

Rogue was sullenly quiet throughout the beginning of their late breakfast. Remy didn't push for conversation as they sat across from each other in the two-person booth of the small bustling diner a few miles from his apartment. When the waitress came to take their orders, Rogue muttered what she wanted without even looking up from the surface of the table. Remy smiled charmingly at the thirty-something waitress as he handed her their menus to lighten the atmosphere, but Rogue only snorted as the woman sauntered away.

"Anna?"

"What?" Her voice was soft, but held a slight twinge of annoyance. She didn't look up from her hands, which she'd covered once again in her gloves from the night before, despite their dirtiness.

Remy sighed, running his finger along his rolled silverware. "Not'ing."

Her shoulders shrugged slightly. "'Kay." She kept her gaze on her hands as if she could see the pale skin underneath the dark leather.

They sat in silence until their food was ready. Remy thanked the waitress with a wink as she laid their dishes before them.

"It that necessary?" Rogue scowled after the blushing waitress left them to eat.

Remy shrugged, sticking his fork into his omelet. "No offense, but sittin' here an' waitin' f' you t' speak t' me ain' workin' anymore."

"Sorry Ah'm borin' ya," she muttered as her fork pushed at her home fries with disinterest.

"It's not dat, _chére_. Jus' _talk_ t' me," he pleaded exasperatedly.

"'Bout what?" she asked nonchalantly, finally looking up. Her eyes betrayed her simple tone; the gray-green irises swirled with hurt and anger.

He sighed again, for what felt like the fiftieth time in twenty minutes, his gaze falling from hers. "Never mind," he mumbled before shoveling his food into his mouth. He chewed his food thoughtfully while Rogue continued to poke at her breakfast. The scrambled eggs wobbled with her soft prods. The diner's food wasn't terrible by any means, but Rogue looked at the eggs with muted disgust. She glanced over to the condiment rack on the inside end of the booth, momentarily wondering if she should even bother to add salt and pepper to the eggs and potatoes. Instead, she sighed, propping her chin on her hand while she continued to push the eggs around her plate.

"Y' should eat," Remy suggested after he watched her nudge her eggs around her plate for a full minute.

"Ah'm not hungry," she replied shortly.

"I t'ought y' said y' were."

"Lost mah appetite."

"S'long ride, _chére_…" he insisted.

"Ah'll be fine."

He dropped his fork with a low annoyed scoff. A loud clang sounded as it fell against the ceramic plate. "Listen, Anna, I won' take y' wit' me unless I know y' up f' de trip."

Her nose wrinkled as her eyes settled on his fallen fork. "Ya didn't want me ta come with ya anyway."

"Would y' stop it?" he hissed. "Dis self pity _merde_ is gettin' old real quick."

She looked up from the fork, her eyes shining despite her best efforts to remain cold and emotionless. "Remy…"

"Jus' eat, okay?" he ordered softly as he picked up his fork again. He dove into his omelet once more as Rogue watched him.

She silently examined the way his hair fell across his forehead, the strong line of his jaw, even the way his deft fingers grasped his fork. A forlorn smile slowly appeared in her gray-green eyes, causing them to squint slightly. "Hey, Remy?"

Surprised she'd addressed him, he glanced up from his food with wide eyes. "_Oui_?"

"What did ya think of when ya saw me that day? The day with Magneto and the sentinel?"

He paused mid bite and glanced up from his plate. "Why do y' ask?"

A faint wry smile crossed her lips before she began to speak. "Ah'm just wonderin'."

He finished chewing his food thoughtfully and swallowed. "Will y' eat if I tell you?"

"Maybe."

He sighed, placing his fork down onto his plate. "T' be honest?"

"Yeah?"

"After I realized it was really you? I t'ought – '_Dieu.'_"

"Oh?"

He smirked. "_Oui_, _'Dieu_.' M' second t'ought was 'Anna_ se faire à ravir._'"

A blush inevitably settled on her cheeks. "You're lyin'."

"Please – y' tol' me t' be honest. An' like y' didn' t'ink de same of me," he countered with wiggling eyebrows.

The blush deepened. "Ah did not."

"'Course not," he smirked. "An' y' weren' jus' checkin' me out a second ago," he added as he nodded towards her plate. "Eat."

She gasped, though a small smile of her own crossed her lips. She stuck her fork in her eggs again, this time for the purpose of eating. "One more thing," she said with the silverware suspended in the air by her face.

"Go 'head, Anna."

She crooked her head to the side slightly, regarding her eggs on her fork with a wistful gaze. "This is gonna sound so silly… but do ya ever wish things could go back ta the way they were? Ah mean, befoh everythin' got so insane? Befoh yoah powers manifested, befoh the engagement an' everythin'?"

"_De trajet_, but life… she's not all de happily ever afters she cracked up t' be, eh?"

Rogue scoffed, her gaze shifting from her fork to Remy. "Good thing Ah didn't like fairy tales as a kid or else Ah'd be _really_ disappointed raht 'bout now," she groused before she took the bite off her fork.

"Cheers t' dat," Remy replied, taking a sip of his coffee. "But t'ings happen f' a reason, Anna. T'ink 'bout it… we never would've seen each ot'er again if it hadn' been f'all de t'ings dat happened between den an' now."

"Ah know… but…"

"Yeah, I could've done wit'out de last month of _merde_ too."

She snickered darkly as she took another bite. "Ah guess we'll just have to see where this all takes us, Ah guess," she replied thoughtfully after she swallowed her eggs.

Remy lifted his fork again, a small smirk playing at his lips. "Guess so."

-----

Anna and Remy had been sitting on the veranda sipping Mattie's sweet tea for a half hour before Henri arrived with Mercy on his arm. Anna took an immediate liking to the vivacious blonde – she drank in Mercy's enthusiasm and sincerity as she hugged Remy to greet him hello.

"I feel like I haven' seen y' in f'ever!" she squealed as she held him tight.

"It's been a week," he squeaked under her embrace as he dramatically gasped for air.

"Dat's too long between visits t' m'favorite soon t' be brot'er-in-law," she beamed as she let go of him.

"I'm y' only soon t' be brot'er-in-law," he smirked.

She waved her hand, dismissing his joke. "Technicalities, Remy." She turned her head and saw Anna. "An' dis is Anna?" she grinned.

"_Oui_. Anna, dis is Mercy," he said as he motioned between the two girls. Mercy stood at a half inch shorter than Remy's five-foot-six frame, which still made her tower over Anna.

Anna stood still, deciding not to foolishly stick her hand out like she had before with Tante Mattie. Instead, she settled for a shy wave and waited for Mercy to hug her. "Hi," she greeted with a small smile.

Mercy grinned, her blue eyes bright. "Oh you are jus' _belle, fille_!" She gathered Anna into a quick, tender hug. She pulled back, but held on to Anna's shoulders gently, taking a good look at her. "I _love_ y' hair. S'natural, _hein_?" She ran her index finger through one of the white locks framing Anna's face.

"Yeah, it is." Anna's smile widened as a blush reddened her cheeks. She glanced at Remy, who was smirking casually. She could tell he was thinking _tol' y' you'd like her._

"Jus' wait till y' older, _p'tite_. Y' are gon' be _très magnifique_," Mercy praised, looking back at Henri, who had been staring at his brother and his friend silently with a friendly smile.

The younger girl in turn brightened her smile ten fold as she extended her hand proudly to Henri. "You must be Henri," she grinned. "It's nice ta finally meet ya. Ah've heard so much about ya!" she exclaimed, accentuating her accent.

He took her hand warily, put off by her sudden enthusiasm as she'd been timid only moments before, and shook it slightly. "What," he asked casually, his tone contradicting his nervous behavior. "Has _mon plus jeune frère_ been boastin' 'bout me?" He managed a wry smirk, but gained an awkward glance from Mercy, who could read his discomfort easily.

"Actually, Ah heard 'bout ya from Adeline."

Henri blanched. "… Adeline?"

"Yeah! She's mah third cousin. When Ah found out Remy an' y'all were related, Ah was so excited! At the last family party a few months ago, Addie couldn't stop talkin' 'bout ya!"

Mercy batted her big blue eyes at Henri. "Oh, y' know _dat_ Adeline, Anna?" Her eyes shifted to Remy, who had his regular smirk plastered on his face. Upon further scrutiny though, Mercy caught a pleased mischievousness dancing in his red on black eyes. He was _enjoying_ his brother's discomfort, the little devil!

Her eyes turned back to Anna, who was beaming with delight. "She kept sayin' how much she loved this Henri LeBeau guy from her sophomore year of high school. She was completely smitten with ya!"

Remy watched as Henri swallowed the lump in his throat. Anna toyed with her hair idly, fighting the giggles that tickled at the base of her stomach. "She always got real silent whenever someone asked what happened ta the two of ya though…"

-----

During the rest of breakfast, Rogue began to relax more and more. She didn't eat all of her meal, but she ate enough that Remy was satisfied and teased that she would be able to ride along with him.

Afterwards, Remy drove them to a small boutique. Against Rogue's wishes, he insisted upon buying her new clothes suitable for the drive down, seeing as how her own clothes were dirty and the outfit he'd supplied for her at his apartment would be inappropriate for a long bike ride.

While she reluctantly tried on the clothes, Remy waited and attempted to call Belladonna again.

"_Bon jour! –"_

He snapped the phone shut as her chipper, sultry but recorded voice filled his ear. He groaned and muttered under his breath, rubbing his hand across his face roughly.

"Remy?"

He looked up, his lips set in a scowl until his eyes settled on Rogue. _Um, wow._ He blinked a few times, his eyes tracing up her body as subtly as he could. "What's up, Anna?" he asked, keeping his voice miraculously steady.

She glanced down to the clothing on her body, a look of uncertainty crossing her face. Low rise black jeans hugged her legs and hips like second skin, while a loose, long sleeved blouse dipped below her waist line and around her backside. The soft, dark green fabric hung off her shoulders, revealing the thin black straps of her bra and additional straps of a matching green tank top underneath.

She turned to face the mirror, unknowingly giving Remy a good view of how well the jeans actually fit her. "This stuff is way too expensive," she told him.

"Don' worry about it," he reassured her as he fought the urge to wet his lips.

She narrowed her eyes at him through the mirror, blowing a stray piece of white hair away from her face. "Ah'm serious, Cajun. You've done enough foh me already."

"It's y' own fault f' not bringin' extra clothes wit' y'," he teased. Before she could retort, he insisted, "I'm not lettin' y' wear de same clothes day after day, Anna. What kind of host would I be?" he smirked.

"But now Ah feel _really_ indebted ta ya… Ah'm not the type who looks foh charity hand outs."

"Dis ain' charity - y' know it ain'. An' y' actin' like I haven't given y' new clothes b'fore."

She smiled despite herself. "It still feels like it though, especially when you're payin' foh these," she said softly, her eyes falling away from him and down to the clothes.

"Hey, I jus' want y' t' be comfortable."

She smiled meekly, glancing up to him again. "These _are_ really nice…"

"Den c'mon," he drawled with a smirk. "Let's get y' set."

She nodded and stepped towards the dressing room. "Hey, Rem?" she called before she disappeared around the corner.

"_Oui, chére_?"

"Thank you," she said softly with a light smile. She tucked a piece of white hair behind her ear so she could see him from her sideways glance.

He smiled warmly in return, his red eyes flashing with sincerity. "Y' welcome. I'll meet y' up front."

He turned away, opening his phone again. The time glowed ten minutes until one. He mentally calculated the time they'd be on the road, the possibility of rush hour around the heavy populated cities, etc. With him driving, they'd be in Louisiana in fifteen hours. And while driving nonstop was an option, Remy wasn't entirely eager to get home.

He knew he had to be home as soon as possible, and he also knew that Rogue wouldn't have minded driving nonstop and arriving in the Big Easy early in the morning, but something in him wanted to delay as much as he could. Of course, he wanted to rescue his father and possibly fight a few Assassins in the process – especially Julien – but going back home meant that finality of the contract. His freedom would be gone.

With his free hand, he rubbed his face roughly. He muttered coarsely under his breath, knowing that he already knew it wouldn't have lasted forever. He looked down to his phone again, trying to tell himself to do the right thing. With a sigh, he pushed the digit for Henri's speed dial and he pressed the phone up to his ear.

It rang twice before a sweet voice slid through his ears. It definitely wasn't Henri, not that he minded one bit. "Remy?"

"Hey, Mercy," he grinned.

"How's m'favorite brother in law who doesn' call anymore?" she asked with a strained airiness.

He continued walking towards the registers, his hand reaching out and sliding a fashionable but simple black sling bag off one of the racks as he strolled by. "M' sorry, Merce. Did Henri tell y' where I was?"

"He mentioned somet'ing 'bout Egypt…"

"_Oui_, add London an' Tibet t' dat, _chére_ – an' every place in between."

"Well, aren' y' jus' de well traveled man. Dat boss of y' kept y' goin', eh?"

"While he was still kickin'; _oui,_ a bit." He glanced over his shoulder and saw Rogue on her way towards the front. Her arms were overloaded with not just the outfit she'd previously been trying on, but also with an additional loose knit sweater along with another pair of the same cut jeans in dark blue, plus a new leather jacket. While she was vehemently against his even taking it off the rack, she agreed that she needed it for the ride. He told her to simply ignore the price tag when she tried it on, which had obviously been impossible for her curiosity. He had insisted on buying her a new pair of boots but she drew the line and said she'd wear her sneakers instead. He didn't, however, have to ask her twice if she wanted a new pair of gloves. They had been the only thing she'd been okay with him buying since her current pair had been so disgusting, plus they were the least expensive thing in her collection of items.

"Listen, tell Henri I should be dere by de mornin'. _Late_ mornin'."

"Alright, Remy. Y' sure y' don' want me t' grab him? He's only talkin' t' Theoren outside…"

"Neh, _chére_. We're 'bout t' hit de road."

"I see… How's she doin'?"

"Better," he replied shortly, figuring that Henri had no doubt told Mercy about Rogue's sudden appearance in his life again. He didn't elaborate further though, not wanting to go into too much detail.

He could almost sense his sister-in-law nodding on the other end in understanding. "I'm lookin' f'ward t' seein' her 'gain," Mercy giggled. "She was such a delight all dose years ago."

Remy smirked. "Dat's because y' figured out our li'l game."

"Well, _oui_, as if I could let y' two have all de fun tormentin' y' poor brother!" she exclaimed with a laugh. "All kiddin' aside dough, _chér_, y' know how much I liked her. She was good f' you dat summer."

Rogue was close enough to hear his end of the conversation and see him smiling at her. She crooked her eyebrow when she heard "_Oui_, she was."

"I'll let y' go, Remy. Be careful."

"_Vous, aussi_." He clasped the phone closed as Rogue joined him by the front of the store, curiosity stirring in her eyes.

"Who was that?" Rogue asked when he slid the phone back into his coat pocket.

"Mercy. Tol' her t' expect us t'morrow mornin'."

"Ya mean we won't be there tonight?"

"Not unless y' wan' drive till t'ree in de mornin'," he responded with a smirk.

"Oh… all raht."

"Get y'self rung up an' changed. We got a ways t' go b'fore we stop," he said, handing her the bag he'd randomly picked out.

"Ya know, at least Ah didn't ask ya if ya had enough ta buy all this," she joked.

He laughed. "Neh, y' had enough sense not t' ask _where_ I got de money."

"Is that why this feels so bad, buyin' all of this?" she groaned histrionically, motioning to the pile of clothes she'd just laid on the counter.

"Jus' t'ink, de family is payin' f'dis."

"How reassurin'," she said, rolling her eyes. She pointed to a rack a distance away from the counter. "Ah think Ah'm gonna check out those sunglasses."

"Don' want t' see de total?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her before she turned away.

"Nope!" she threw over her shoulder as she walked away, her shoulders shaking slightly with laughter.

-----

"Oh, _fille_, it's too devastatin' t' talk about," Remy interjected forlornly, placing his hand on Anna's shoulder.

She looked up at him, batting her gray-green eyes woefully. "Ah guess you're raht…"

"We should see how much longer t' dinner. M'starvin'!" Remy exclaimed with a quick change of subject, rubbing his stomach enthusiastically. He guided Anna past his dumbstruck brother and his wary fiancée and into the house.

Mercy's narrowed eyes followed the younger duo as they slipped past the storm door without a care in the world. _Dey're up t' somet'ing…_

"_Chér_," she said, standing up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on Henri's cheek. "M'gon' see if Mattie needs a hand in de kitchen. Why don't y' relax an' have a smoke?"

"Sure," he replied through gritted teeth, glancing down to her only for a moment before pushing away, rubbing a hand roughly over his shaved head.

Mercy glared at him, tossing her blonde hair off her shoulders. She was unsure if she was upset at the fact that he hadn't taken the opportunity to joke about her cooking skills, or lack thereof – that would have been typical Henri LeBeau behavior, after all! Any mentioning of that girl Adeline had always thrown him off. Why would Remy do it now to him?

She whirled around and stomped into the house, finding Remy and Anna immediately. "Remy Etienne LeBeau, c'mere dis instant."

Remy looked up from the pitcher of sweet tea from which he'd been pouring another glass for himself and Anna. Feigned innocence masked the mischief tugging at his lips. Anna was doing her best not to giggle and kept her glass pressed to her mouth to hide her smile.

"_Moi_?"

"_Oui_, _vous_! What are y' doin' t' your brother?" she demanded, treading up to him. She sized him up despite their slight height difference, glaring into his red on black eyes.

"Don' know what y' talkin' 'bout, Merce."

"De hell y' don'! Y' know what happened 'tween y' brother an' Adeline. An' I **know** f' a fact dat she –" she pointed to Anna who sipped the tea quietly. "- is not related t' dat slut."

"How do ya know Ah'm not?" Anna asked, faking insult. She remained hidden behind her glass, knowing her façade would drop at any given chance.

"_Chére_, it's a small world, but not dat small, no offense. An' I know Remy, who would take any opportunity t' see his _frére_ squirm like dat." She turned to glare at Remy again, who had finally allowed his resolve to crumble. His smirk shown through full force.

Anna looked up, noting that Remy had stopped their game, and grinned charmingly at the two of them. Mercy could tell that the younger girl had adopted the look from her partner in crime. The two traded conspiratorial glances, and Anna giggled, lowering her glass from her mouth to allow Mercy to see her smile.

"Mercy," Remy said, the smile falling slightly from his face. "Dis was too good not t' try out. S'not m'fault he's so gullible."

"Y' know how much Adeline hurt him, Rem," she sighed, running a hand through her loose blonde curls.

"_Oui_ – but it was ancient history! Dat was what, t'ree, four years 'go? He's been wit' y' f'r how long? He needs t' let go of her an' worry 'bout you – so t'ink of dis as a weddin' present," he joked.

"Plus he needs ta learn that all river rats aren't the same!" Anna quipped from beside Remy.

Mercy regarded Anna with a thoughtful look before flicking her eyes back to Remy. "Y' have a point…"

"'Course we have a point!" Remy exclaimed. Anna nodded in total agreement.

Tante Mattie, who had been listening to the conversation mutely the entire time, glanced over her shoulder finally with a roll of her eyes and a dramatic sigh. "Y' kids are jus' askin' f'it."

Remy joined her by the stove, where she had been putting the final touches on her Guild-famous jambalaya. "Y' live f' dis an' y' know it, Tante," he smirked, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Y' lucky Anna's adorable. Henri'll only want t' hurt **you** when he finds out de truth," Mattie smiled.

"Only if he can catch me," Remy countered with a daring smirk.

"Sure, pup. Go get y' _pére_, hein? I need t' serve dis an' leave f' Marius' shortly after." She turned from the stove, wiping her hands on her apron.

Remy's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Why y' goin' over dere?"

"Don' even gimme dat look, Remy. Y' know I ain' y' personal nanny," she scoffed.

"Yeah but y' don' have t' go over dere."

"Y' know I work wit' both Guilds…" she sighed, frustrated as if they'd had the conversation a thousand times before. "Listen, I ain' explainin' dis t' y' now. Go get y' fat'er while Mercy, you get de china out. An' Anna, y' just seat y' pretty li'l self anywhere y' want," she smiled warmly at Anna, trying to remind Remy of his manners and that he had a guest in the room.

Anna glanced warily between her friend and Tante Mattie, unsure of what to do. Remy scoffed and left the room with heavy feet in order to find his father. Unwilling to just sit there awkwardly, she asked, "Is there anythin' Ah can do ta help?"

Tante Mattie smiled gratefully. "Y' can help Mercy set up de table. Show her where everyt'ing is, eh chil'?"

Mercy nodded gently, motioning to Anna. "C'mon, it's in de other room."

Anna followed the other girl wordlessly, swallowing her questions about what exactly Remy and Mattie had been talking about.

-----

Rogue changed out of her makeshift pajamas into the new clothes in the boutique's bathroom after Remy had paid for everything. They exited the store, Rogue appearing more at ease in clothes that fit her properly as opposed to the track pants that had hung precariously off her hips and pooled at her feet.

She tugged at her new gloves, ironically enjoying the comfort of being covered head to toe again. Remy watched as she slid the new jacket over her arms and onto her shoulders.

"Y' okay?" he asked she positioned the bag Remy had chosen around her back.

She smiled simply. "Yeah. It's a little warm foh the jacket but it'll help when we get movin'."

He smirked. "True, but it ain' like y' not used t' severe heat, Anna."

She glanced at him with a wry smile, catching the double meaning of his statement. "Ah've been livin' up here foh' two years now, Remy. The summers here are nothin'. Ah jus' said that because it was always harder to distinguish the seasons befoh – it's just a lil easier around here, ya know?"

"Y' don' have t' tell me twice; I've only been up here since winter – an' I didn't like dat one bit, lemme tell y'."

Rogue laughed lightly as they strolled back to the motorcycle. "Yeah… mah first winter here… wasn't a good one." Her smile slipped from her face suddenly and she dropped her gaze to the ground.

"_Chére_? I lost y', didn' I?" He craned his neck so he could see around her veil of white forelocks.

"Ah'm fine… Ah just reminded mahself of somethin', that's all."

"_Quoi_?" he asked gently.

A gentle breeze blew through the air, sweeping Rogue's hair from her face. It revealed her knit eyebrows to Remy as she recalled what had been on her mind. "There was this class trip to the caverns up in the mountains near here. Ah went there with Scott…" She paused for a moment, trying to gather the right words to explain the incident. "Let's just say that it was the first time Mystique tried ta kill me."

"Oh," he replied shortly, unsure of how to appropriate respond to such words. Luckily, they reached the motorcycle, so Remy could easily change the subject. "I figure we'll drive as far as Birmingham an' den get a place f'r de night, an' leave early in de mornin' from dere t' get t' Nawlins by noon at de latest."

Rogue nodded, grateful for the topic change. "How late do ya think it'll be?"

"We can easily avoid rush hour traffic 'round DC… so it'll be 'bout eleven t'night when we stop." He retrieved his bag of sparse clothing and belongings from the side bag on his bike. He opened it momentarily and Rogue saw a few of the picture frames stowed in the bag along with a few decks of cards among his clothing. She hadn't seen him take the frames off the mantle in the living room when they'd left earlier, but it touched her to see that he didn't want to be without them. He dug around for a second and found his dark sunglasses.

"You stopped wearin' yoah glasses all the time," Rogue said, noting that he hadn't worn them in the boutique, or the diner, or any other public place for that matter.

He slipped them on his nose, pushing them back. "S'funny t'ing 'bout dat. Kinda stopped bein' afraid of people's reactions after I worked wit' Magneto. He taught us t' not be afraid of who we are wit' de rest of de world, plus it doesn' help dat everyone knows 'bout mutants now," he said with a noncommittal shrug as he lifted her helmet off its resting place on the bike and handed it to her. He retrieved his own helmet and flipped it onto his head. After securing it, he turned to ready his motorcycle, signaling that he didn't want to continue the conversation.

Rogue tugged her helmet on and stepped beside him, inquisitively watching him as he checked his gas gages. She bit her lip, her curiosity getting the best of her. "What did Belle think? About yoah eyes, Ah mean." she asked as she fingered the bag's strap across her torso.

Remy glanced over his shoulder to Rogue, his lips in a thin, forced smirk. "She liked dem. It took her a li'l bit t' get used t' after we initially met, but in de end she defended me t' her guild an' against her brother, because of course he had t' be against everyt'ing dealin' wit' me." He rolled his eyes for a moment and turned back to the bike once more.

Rogue nodded even though he couldn't see her do so. She opened her mouth momentarily and closed it, a question dancing on her tongue that she'd been dying to ask him since the moment she'd seen the picture on the mantle. Before she could catch herself once more, she opened her mouth again and blurted out, "Do ya love her?"

This time, Remy turned around completely so he could see Rogue and look her in the eyes. Her cheeks had flushed slightly pink with the question and his attention, and she quickly busied herself with the buttons on her jacket so he couldn't look at her with shaded red eyes. "What kind of question is dat, Anna?" he asked with a small laugh.

"A reasonable one, Ah guess," she said, looking up to him once again. "Ah mean, you are _marryin'_ the girl, are ya not?"

"Yeah, but in an arranged marriage," he reminded her with a scoff.

"So ya don't?"

"I wouldn' say dat completely… de t'ing wit' Belle…" His lips pursed as he tried to find the appropriate words that would define his feelings for his fiancée. "_Oui_, y' could say dat I love her, but not in de way a guy marryin' a girl should feel about her, _comprende_?"

Rogue smiled slightly, in almost a smug sense. "Ya used ta say such mean things about her… befoh ya were engaged, Ah mean."

He smirked. "She was a spoiled brat – still is t' an extent, but she knows what's good f' her guild an' is loyal, an' I can admire dat in anyone regardless of where de allegiance lies."

"Does she love you?"

Remy regarded Rogue with a thoughtful glance before turning away so he could start his bike. "I t'ink she feels de same way 'bout me as I feel f' her." The bike roared to life and hummed as Remy threw his leg over it and settled into the seat. Rogue tentatively stepped up next to him and rested her hand on his shoulder before she slid into the spot behind him on the bike. "She likes t' pretend we're in dat sort of love dough t' make it easier on both of us, I suppose," he added as she adjusted the strap of her bag more comfortably across her chest.

"Makes sense," Rogue commented idly as her hands trailed down to his hips. Her gloved fingers grasped at the soft leather of Remy's jacket. He was happy to see that she'd become increasingly more relaxed around him as the morning progressed.

He was about to shift gears and slip out of their parking spot when she spoke again. "You don't want ta go back, do ya?" she asked gently under the purr of the Harley's engine, her chin replacing where her hand had been on his shoulder.

As his foot pumped the gas to jump the engine, Rogue knew she wouldn't hear an answer. Whether or not he'd heard her or not, she couldn't be sure, but judging by the sudden stiffness that stretched across his back, she had a strong feeling that he had indeed heard her ask the question. Her gut also had a strong feeling about his answer as well.

-----

"Ah can't get over how good that was," Anna exclaimed as she leaned back in the chair on the veranda. Her feet were propped on the long chair, crossed appropriately at the ankles.

Remy sat in the chair adjacent to hers, his head lazily lolled against the back of the chair. "I told y' Tante cooks a mean jambalaya."

"You weren't kiddin'," she sighed contently. Her hand drifted languidly to the polished table on the opposite side of her where two glasses of sweet tea rested. Her hand clasped one of them and brought it to her lips, taking a long sip. "Ah could get used ta livin' like this. You're so lucky!"

Remy's eyes gazed at setting sun just above the horizon, the oranges and pinks bleeding into the purples and blacks of the impending night. "Yeah, real lucky," he murmured idly, not shifting his somber gaze at all.

Anna blinked at him curiously and followed his stare out to the horizon. "Sunset are always so much prettier in the summer," she commented, placing her glass back on the table. Remy only nodded in response. "What's wrong? You were happy earlier!" she complained.

"Y' wouldn' understand, _fille_."

"Why not?"

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "It's family business stuff," he replied shortly.

"That stuff with Tante Mattie?"

"It goes beyond dat," he muttered.

"Oh." She dropped her gaze to her toes, wiggling in her sandals. "Well, cheer up!" she insisted, snapping her view up to him once more. "We were havin' an awesome time befoh ya got all sour on me!"

His line of sight finally shifted from the sunset to Anna, who had pouted her bottom lip in annoyance. "I'm sorry, Anna," he relented. He rubbed his face harshly, drawing one of his legs into his chest and resting his arm on his knee. "T'ings are jus' annoyin' de hell outta me recently wit' _mon pére_ an' de guild…"

"The what?"

"The business," she said, correcting himself as he cursed himself internally. "I told y' he's been gettin' on m'case more an' more…"

"Why? There's no point in you workin' this young. We're both just kids!"

"Tell me 'bout it," he sighed. "I can' even begin t' explain it dough."

Anna giggled and abruptly stood up. "Then don't. C'mon," she extended her hands towards him.

"What're y' doin'?"

"Ah wanna see New Orleans at night," she told him as he tentatively slipped his hand into hers.

He stood up and she led him down the veranda stairs to the main lawn. "Haven' y' seen it wit' Irene an' Val?"

She smirked and Remy noted with a touch of internal pride at how much it mirrored his own. He'd taught her well. "Ah haven' seen it with _you_."

He glanced back to his house as they walked down the main path that led off the estate to the road. A vindictive grin splashed across his face as he kept pace with Anna. His grasp on her hand tightened warmly, producing a joyous laugh from her. She reached down to her dress, collecting the long skirt in her hand so she could have more mobility in her legs. His strides began to lengthen and soon he and Anna were racing down the road to the nearest trolley stop.

As they neared the stop, there was a trolley there, ready to pull away. Anna, out of breath from running and giggling mischievously the entire way, managed to yelp "wait!"

"Dat won' help," Remy panted as they reached the stop. Anna began to slow down, but much to her surprise, Remy kept the fast pace. He tugged insistently on her hand, urging her to keep up. Anna's eyes widened when she realized what he intended to do. Her grin broadened to an impossible size. She grasped the cotton of her dress more firmly in her fist, ready to lift it up when she'd reach the trolley so she could jump easier.

Remy strides away from the trolley, his free hand reaching the back door pole. The vehicle began to slow and the doors swung open, allowing him to grasp the pole tightly with his free hand. He hoisted himself up, taking Anna with him once he quickly gained his footing. He let go of her hand, only to collapse in the first available seat near him. He barely noted the mixed looks from the other riders as he scooted over to the window so Anna could sit next to him. She fell beside him, panting and gasping.

"That was so great!" She laughed between breaths as she leaned back against the vinyl seat. She straightened her dress down her legs and crossed them at the ankles like she had back on the veranda. She smoothed down her free white forelocks, making sure she didn't appear like she'd just run a quarter of a mile down the road in her Sunday best.

Remy smirked and tugged on her long ponytail, gaining a venom-filled glare from her. "Relax," he told her as he pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket. "Y' look fine, _fille_."

"But-"

"_Non_, don' worry 'bout a t'ing," he said reassuringly as he perched the sunglasses on his nose. He slung an arm around her shoulder warmly. "We're gon' t' have a blast."

Anna glanced sideways at his hand hanging off her shoulder and smiled briefly. "Yeah," she said as her face turned to his once more. "We are."

-----

Rogue had nodded off as the night progressed and they traveled further and further south. The night air had warmed and thickened as they drove, and it ripped around the Hurley, warming and chilling the couple all the same. She'd lightly drifted off, clinging to Remy as their conversation began to dwindle down. He'd felt her lean heavier on him and when he called back to her with no response, he rested his hand on one of hers around his waist. He knew they'd have to stop soon, so as scheduled, when they passed Birmingham, Alabama, he turned off on the first exit and drove until he came across a small bed and breakfast.

As she felt them slow down, Rogue opened her eyes and lifted her head from his back. She glanced around blearily through the visor of her helmet. "How long was Ah out?" she asked with a yawn. She scrutinized her surroundings as best as she could in the dark and was surprised to see the quaint little inn that Remy had selected.

"Only 'bout an' hour," he replied over his shoulder as he pulled up to the driveway of the main building. "T' be honest, I'm surprised y' made it dat far," he admitted with a chuckle. He brought the Harley to a complete stop and turned off the engine.

"Well, the purpose of me comin' with ya was ta keep ya company, remember?" she reminded him. "It's only fair that Ah stayed up most of the trip." She climbed off the back of the bike and stretched her legs.

They had spent a good portion of the ride south talking about everything they could – that is, save for the grim events of the last month and previous six years. The topics ranged from what music they enjoyed, what movies they'd seen and to hobbies they'd had explored as they grew up. Anything said that may have swayed to their bleak times of their pasts and presents was vague and quickly skipped over without any real notion from the other. Rogue spoke of the X-Men as if they were her family, often referring to Kitty as the annoying little sister that she couldn't stand most of the time, but couldn't help but care for nonetheless. When the conversation stumbled onto Kurt, Remy noted that Rogue usually breezed over the topic and quickly talked about something else without losing a beat.

He'd done the same, telling Rogue of the places he'd visited over the last few years, despite being on business or not. Jean-Luc LeBeau wasn't mentioned once in any of Remy's stories, something Rogue noticed right away but of course said nothing about. Remy effortlessly weaved in and out of conversations as easily as he drove his motorcycle through traffic and told her other things with ease. He mentioned Belladonna vaguely as well, and Rogue couldn't tell if it was for her benefit that he left his fiancée out of the discussions or for his own.

Remy swung his leg over the motorcycle and stretched his legs briefly as well, the long ride taking a toll on his inner thighs. He slipped his helmet off his head and shook his hair out of the matted mess it'd no doubt become in the previous hours. Rogue did the same and tried her best to shake out the odd shape her hair had become with no success. "Not one word," she hissed with a smirk as he gathered his bag from the side of the bike.

He grinned brilliantly as he threw the strap over his shoulder. "As if I'm one t' talk. Let's go." He escorted her to the entrance.

The main clerk immediately perked up at the sight of the couple, smiling graciously as they walked up to her desk. "Good evenin'," she greeted warmly. "Welcome ta the Hummingbird Inn," she chirped in a voice that Rogue thought to be entirely too enthusiastic for the time of night.

"Evenin', _chére_," Remy returned smoothly, earning a look from Rogue in the process. "We'll jus' be needin' a room for de night," he explained.

"Just foh tonight?" she repeated warily, shifting her eyes between Rogue and Remy.

"We've been travelin' all day an' need a place ta rest," Rogue replied caustically, catching the clerk's wandering eye. _Does this woman honestly think that we're some random, adventurous couple lookin' foh a sweet escape at a hotel in the middle of nowhere? The nerve!_

The clerk's lip twitched slightly, but otherwise her cheerful smile wasn't marred. "Of course! Let me get you two set up an' I'll have someone take ya to your room."

-----

Rogue and Remy followed the plainly dressed bellhop across a small yard to an adjoined house with several doors with separate living arrangements dotted along the one wall. "If ya need anythin', just press one on the phone," the bellhop explained as he unlocked the door to their room. He pushed open the door after retrieving the key from the lock and handing it to Remy. He escorted them inside and then excused himself.

Rogue peered around the decently sized suite curiously with wide eyes. "This is actually really nice, Remy," she said in awe as she traced her hand along the cherry wood TV stand in the sitting room.

"Well, I figured I owed y' somet'ing a little better since I already had y' wake up in a shady motel," he joked as he put his bag down on one of the armchairs. "Plus, de was de first place I saw in miles."

She smiled, lifting her bag over her head and setting it on the couch. "It is really nice – oh," she suddenly commented downheartedly as she glanced past the sitting room to the bedroom.

"_Quoi_? What is it?" Remy followed her gaze from the view of the couch into the bedroom where there was only one bed; a king sized bed, but singular nonetheless. "No problem, Anna," he remarked. "I'll take de couch."

"You've been drivin' all day," Rogue interjected. "Ah'll take the couch."

"Like hell y' are," he scoffed. "What kind of gentleman would I be if I let a lady sleep on de couch?"

"Don't make me answer that," she replied with a snicker as she unbuttoned her jacket.

"It was rhetorical, t'anks. But Tante didn' raise me t' be _une scabreux personne_, so I'm sleepin' on de couch an' dat's final." He crossed his arms sternly, though his grin betrayed his firm voice and posture.

Rogue smirked as she slipped her jacket off her shoulders and arms. As she hung it over her arm and picked up her bag once more, she replied. "Who am Ah ta go against the teachin's of Tante Mattie?" Then she sauntered into the bedroom with a laugh and left him to get ready for bed.

-----

When they had returned to their neighborhood, it was well past 9:30. The sun had set and the night sound had come alive as they walked down the street to Anna's house.

"Do y' t'ink Irene'll be mad dat y' comin' back dis late?"

Anna tucked the insistent stray white forelock behind her ear timidly. "Hard ta say. Ah mean, if anythin', Val'll be more angry with me… she's pro'bly freakin out raht now."

"We can jus' say we were at m'house de entire time."

"Ah can't do that… Irene's blind, but she can read me like a book. Ah can lie about little things, but runnin' off to the French Quarter without anyone watchin' me is somethin' else," she insisted.

Remy sighed, running his free hand through his hair. "We don' have t' mention dat we stole all dis stuff, right?" he smirked as he lifted up the shopping bag in his other hand.

Anna giggled. "Well really, _those_ weren't stolen… just the money we both them with was."

"Exactly. An' it's only illegal if y' get caught, _fille_," he reminded her for the twentieth time that evening as they walked up the front steps to Val's rented house. Anna pushed open the door, peering past the foyer to see if her foster mother was anywhere to be seen.

"Reenie?" she called cautiously.

"Anna?" That wasn't quite the voice she wanted to hear in response. She glanced back to Remy worriedly as Val came marching up to them from the kitchen. "Do you have _any idea_ what time it is?" she asked in a raised voice. "We've been –"

"_Désolé, mademoiselle_," Remy jumped in, laying on the charm as thick as he could. "_Mon frere_, Henri, took us downtown wit' his fiancée. We didn' mean t' get back so late, but when y' take Mercy shoppin', dere's no stoppin' her!" He plastered a cool, but sincere smile on his face, knowing he looked confident in his little white lie. Anna tried to mimic the visage, but felt she came off appearing guiltier, so instead she kept her head down shamefully, hoping Remy's story would keep Val at bay and her apparent remorse would be enough to get Val to back off.

"B'fore we realized it, de sun was set an' Anna figured y'd be upset since she didn' call an' I'm real sorry f' keepin' her out dis late."

Val's blue eyes narrowed, piercing through Remy's dark sunglasses. Without shifting her gaze from him, Val asked Anna if what he said was true. Anna nodded gently, her gray-green eyes blinking at her sadly. "Ah'm sorry, Val. Ah got caught up in bein' excited 'bout goin' downtown," she added, knowing that part wasn't a lie.

Val's glare switched to Anna, scrutinizing her face for honesty. "I think it's time for Remy to go home."

Anna looked over to Remy, who had the same cool smile on his face. He nodded as he handed the bags to her. "Don' f'get t' show dem what y' bought f' dem," he whispered just loud enough for Val to hear. "See y' t'morrow."

"That's to be decided," Val muttered under her breath as Anna walked Remy to the door. She waved goodbye to him and closed the door. She turned to face Val alone, who still had the same disapproving glare on her face.

"Ah'll go up ta mah room now," Anna whispered as she brushed past the tall blonde.

"Go say good night to Irene first," Val said sternly, stepping out of the way.

Anna glanced up to her before crossing the living room, her sandaled feet shuffling along the hardwood floor. She glanced up to Val apologetically as she shambled past her. She knew Val would lobby to Irene for Anna to not see Remy again, but Anna also knew that Irene cared for her happiness the most.

She reached her foster mother's bedroom and tapped lightly on the door. "Reenie? You awake?"

"Come in," she heard through the door.

Anna grasped the doorknob and twisted it, the door creaking quietly as she pushed it open. Irene had her nightstand light on, even though she obviously didn't need it. She'd been expecting her, Anna could tell. "Irene… Ah'm sorry about gettin' home late. We-"

"I know, dear." She sat up in her bed and patted the comforter. "Come, sit."

Anna crossed the room, placing her bag next to her legs before she sat down on the bed gently. "About tonight… Val is more upset than I am – but it's no excuse for what you did though. You know it's unacceptable."

"Ah know, Irene. Ah won't do it again, Ah promise."

Irene smiled and shook her head. "I'm sure you will, but just be more responsible in the future."

"Ah will," she insisted.

Irene reached forward and found Anna's hand resting in her lap. She gave it a gentle pat before saying, "Head up to bed now, Val has plans for us in the morning."

"But Ah told Remy –"

"Anna, you can see him in the afternoon," Irene interrupted.

Anna pouted and sighed, but knew it was no use when it came to arguing with the blind woman. "Fine," she relented, sliding off the bed. Her foot brushed against the shopping bag, the plastic crinkling against her dress.

"What's that?" Irene asked as Anna passed the bag on the floor.

"Oh, Ah found this book for ya." She reached down into the bag and retrieved what would've been a plain white manuscript to anyone else, but was in actuality a book written in Braille. She placed it in Irene's extended hands. "It's about voodoo," Anna explained. "Remy said it was a good read – his Tante Mattie has the whole collection an' said it was pretty interestin'."

Irene ran her hand along the cover, a warm smile spreading across her lips. "This was very thoughtful of you, Anna."

The younger girl shrugged. "Ah don't get to buy you stuff most of the time… Ah figured that Ah could just this once."

Irene placed the book in her lap and extended her arm to Anna. "Thank you, child."

Anna smiled and stepped closer to Irene, giving her a hug. She pulled away slightly and planted a kiss on Irene's cheek. "Good night, Irene."

"Sleep well, child."

-----

He lay, staring at the ceiling with blinking red eyes. By all accounts, he should've been fast asleep. He'd driven practically nonstop from one in the afternoon till ten at night. They paused only once around five for gas and a bathroom stop. Rogue had grabbed a few quick slices of pizza from the rest area and made him eat one, but otherwise, they had been on the road for nine hours.

So why the hell couldn't he sleep?

He tossed around his game plan in his head over and over again. Rogue had said she would call the X-Men when they got to his place and he could either stay with her until they came to retrieve her, or leave her with Tante or Mercy and then leave with his brother and cousins to find his father. First things first, he would find out what happened to Belle, because she had to be somewhere in the city, and then he would search for Jean-Luc.

It sounded so much easier in his head than he knew it would actually be when he arrived home.

He sighed roughly, rubbing his hand across his face. He contemplated counting sheep until a soft voice came from the bedroom.

"Remy? Are ya awake?"

He blinked once more, then sat up and twisted so he could see the bed from where he was sitting. There was Rogue, sitting up and looking much like him. She looked like she'd slept maybe twenty minutes since the time they'd gone to sleep hours before.

"What're y' doin' up, _chére_?" he asked, ruffling his hair with his hand idly.

"Can't sleep," she replied shortly. "You?"

"Not a wink," he responded, standing up. He stretched his arms over his head for a moment before grabbing his t-shirt off the back of the couch. He began trekking back to the bedroom, slinging his head through the shirt.

He slumped into the chair next to the nightstand by the bed, sighing. "Worried 'bout tomorrow?" Rogue asked, shifting on the bed away from him. She turned to fluff up the pillows behind her and rested against them.

Remy watched her shift over and wondered if she was uncomfortable with how close he was to her considering their states of dress. "Maybe a li'l," he told her as he pushed his arms through the sleeves of the shirt. "But it's not what y' t'ink."

"You're worried 'bout Belle, aren't ya?" She rested her hand on the bed next to her and Remy could see the pale glow of her hand in the faint moonlight poking out from the thermal shirt he'd given her the night before. Her fingers tapped on the comforter lightly and he couldn't tell if she was inviting him to sit on the bed with her. Instead, he stayed put in the chair, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees.

"It's not like her t' not answer her phone nor call me back, dat's all," he replied thoughtfully.

"Do ya think she's in trouble?" Her fingers drummed against the comforter again, more insistently.

He glanced at her hand on the bed and then to her face. It wasn't visible in the dark, but he could sense a slight blush on her cheeks. Taking that as a clue, he slowly slid onto the bed, staying as close to the edge as he could without falling off, despite the large size of the bed and how much she'd scooted over in the first place.

Rogue smiled softly and raised her hand from the blanket, using it to tuck her forelocks behind her ear. "Ah hope she's okay," she commented idly after a silent minute.

"Me too, Anna. De whole t'ing is jus' a damn mess… I really don' know how it's all gon' go down."

"Do ya think someone will get hurt?" she asked softly, uncertainty thickly lacing her voice.

Remy shrugged. "De Assassins are involved. Anyt'ing could happen."

"Oh," she breathed, and Remy knew it wasn't the answer she wanted to her. She sunk into her pillows, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. She snuck a worried glance in his direction. "What if-"

"Not'ing's gon' happen t' me, _chére_," he said confidently. "Dat was one of de t'ings Julien couldn' stand 'bout me when it came t' his sister. I wasn' gon' kill easy."

"Don't say that," she whispered coldly.

"What?" He looked at her. "Kill?"

She nodded, her bottom lip pouting with her naivety. "Ah don't want ta think about anythin' happenin' ta you."

"Dey are **Assassins**, Anna. Maybe I'm a li'l desensitized t' de word since I grew up wit' it, but dat's m'reality."

"Ah know, but-"

"I'll be _fine_," he insisted.

"How do ya know foh sure?" she asked, keeping her eyes on her folded hands in front of her on the comforter.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair roughly. "I don', but y' don' go dere t'inking like dat. But dat's also why I don' want y' involved, because if somet'ing happened t' you, I don't know what I'd do."

"Ah could help ya though!" She turned in the bed so she could face him, with a renewed energy. "Ah mean, we've all been trained-"

"Not 'gainst dem dough, _chére_. Dis ain' de Brotherhood."

"Ya think that's all we can handle, Remy? All that _Ah_ can handle?" she asked, insult dripping from her accent.

"I didn't mean it like dat-"

"Then how did ya mean it? Because last Ah checked, you've seen me in action _once_. You have no idea what Ah'm capable of," she hissed, drawing her legs up to her body as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Remy fell silent, because he knew exactly what she was capable of. She'd taken down every last one of the X-Men, the Brotherhood _and _the Acolytes. Single handedly. Not to mention, there was video footage of her wiping the floor clean with him and his teammates. "I know y' can, Anna. It ain' y' fight dough, an' I couldn' bear t' see y' get hurt on account of me," he explained gently.

"That's sweet of ya an' all, Remy, but-" she began, her tone apathetic.

"Don't y' get it?" he interrupted her, swiveling on the bed and grabbing her covered arms right below the shoulders. "If I get hurt, dat's not'ing; just a casualty of a war dat's been goin' on for over a century now. But I couldn' ever f'give m'self if somet'ing happened t' you."

"Ah'm a big girl, Remy. Ah don't need ya ta babysit me," she retorted stuffily, glancing coldly to his hands on her arms.

"_Merde, chére_!" He let go her and slid off the bed. "Dis ain' a matter of responsibility. Y' do realize dat de world ain' out t' use you or needs t' use you an' dat people _do care_ 'bout y' well bein'."

She stared at him, her gray-green eyes icy and piercing. "Ah really hate when you psychoanalyze me, Swamp Rat."

"Why? Y' need de slap in de face sometimes it seems," he retorted as he paced at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed.

"Because the reason Ah'm here is ta get away from all of that," she muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

"An' redeem y'self f' what happened?" he guessed snidely. He hated that his voice was coming out so harsh, but _Dieu_, she was driving him nuts.

She blinked slowly, her eyes softening upon opening once more. "Maybe Ah just need ta do that," she admitted gently, her gaze drifting down to her hands again. Her pale fingers glared at her, reminding her what she'd done with those hands two nights before. "You're doin' more than Ah ever did an' yoah father manipulated you too."

He stopped pacing and walked back to his side of the bed, sliding on much like he had before. "I'm doin' it because of m'guild," he told her, his tone much softer than before. "He didn' raise me – Tante did. He didn' train me – Henri did. M' doin' dis t' be dere f' dem – not him. De only t'ing he did was take me in – an' we both know dat amounts t' not'ing in de scheme of t'ings."

"Yeah… Ah know…"

"An' I wasn' kiddin' 'bout carin' about y', Anna. Y' know I do."

She nodded, sighing and falling back against the bed once more. She blew her hair out of her face with a quick puff. She glanced at Remy through her veil of white hair, sighing again in relent. "It's hard ta believe that anyone gives a shit about me without some ulterior motive anymore," she murmured after a long moment.

"Betrayal does dat t' a person," Remy responded, sliding onto the bed further so he was more comfortable. He swung his legs onto the bed and leaned back into the pillows, much like Rogue had been laying. "Like I said dis mornin', y' can' run from it, but den y' can' let it eat y' from de inside out either, Anna, an dat's what y' lettin' it do t' you."

She looked at him for a moment before averting her gaze away, her lip quivering slightly before her teeth clamped down on it to keep it from shaking. "Ah… Ah feel like a huge chunk of mah life was ripped away from me," she described in a small voice, her fingers stretching at the hems of her sleeves. "Like nothin' matters from anythin' befoh two years ago when Ah joined the X-Men. An' even then, all that wasted time with Risty… Ah'll never get it back."

He nodded, understanding entirely. "Y' know," he said with a wry smirk. "I was dere in dose first years. Am I a lie too?"

She shot a dubious look at him. "Do Ah even need ta answer that?"

"_Oui_ – I'm not bein' rhetorical dis time, Anna," he replied sincerely.

Her lips twitched into a thin smile. "Of course you're not a lie. Why do ya think Ah went ta yoah apartment in the first place?" She slid down in the bed, resting her head on her pillows and twisting onto her side so she could look at him. "You were the one person Ah could turn to…" she murmured as her hands slipped under her pillow so she could cradle it against her head. "You were the one person who has seen the real me in who knows how long… The one person Ah allowed mahself ta be completely honest with."

Remy regarded her thoughtfully for a moment, his eyes boring into hers. He wanted to ask her why she couldn't be honest with the X-Men, the very people she'd referred to as her family only hours before. He knew why though – she still felt like an outcast among the group of outsiders. He understood the feeling all too well, even with the close bonds he had with some of his family members. For the most part, he was considered the adopted mutant with the power to unite and lead the guilds… Save for Henri and the cousins he grew up with, he was just a rook in the guild war.

He sidled down on the bed so his face was level with Rogue's. She smiled slightly, curling the blanket around her more. "I'm happy y' have me, Anna."

"Even foh this little bit of time," she sighed sadly. "It sucks that everythin' turned out this way…"

"All dis happens f' a reason, y' know. Us meetin' again, like dis – dere's gotta be a reason why everyt'ing has happened in de last two months. It's all too coincidental f' it all t' have gone t' hell wit'out meanin' somet'ing."

Rogue bit her lip, pondering. "Hey, Remy?" she asked in a small voice, her eyes drifting from his and down the bed to his toes.

"What's up?" he asked as he caught her gaze. He wiggled his toes and produced a slight laugh from her.

The small smile from her laugh fell from her face. "Do ya believe in fate? An' destiny?" His words had provoked a thought in her mind. While she hadn't spoken to Irene in years now, she had absorbed Mystique a few times in the last month. Through those absorptions, she'd gathered bits and pieces of a destiny in store for herself that she knew she didn't want to go through with.

"Fate's a tricky t'ing t' believe in, _chére_," he responded softly as she snuggled against her pillow and brought her somber gaze up to his once more. "Y' want t' t'ink dat y' in control of y' life, but den _merde_ jus' happens anyway dat proves ot'erwise."

"Ah guess it's hard ta distinguish the difference between choice an' fate when so much of our lives have been paved out foh us," she scoffed, blowing her forelocks from her face, only for them to fall stubbornly back into place.

Remy's eyebrows perked as a thought occurred to him. "Y' have a choice now, Anna. Y' realize dat right?"

"Maybe…"

"I mean, t'ink about it. De one person orchestratin' y' life is gone."

Rogue wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, because Ah killed her," she reminded him harshly.

"Dat's t' still be decided," he interjected, sitting up once more. "She was pro'bly gone de moment she turned t' stone."

"You don't know that," she muttered stuffily.

"An' y' don' know if she was still dere either, so dere's no sense in considerin' it," he replied, his tone lighthearted and matter-of-factly. "I t'ink y' tryin' t' get y'self out of bein' de victim," he commented as he stood up in a simple fluid motion.

Rogue blinked as he stood up, confused. She propped herself up on her arm. "Where are ya goin'?"

"Gettin' some water. Y' want some?" He crossed the room to the bathroom and flicked on the light.

"Are ya gonna drug me again?" she asked with a snicker as she rested back down amongst her pillows.

"Hadn't decided yet," came the wry reply as the faucet turned on.

"In that case, Ah'm fine," she called, cuddling her fluffy pillow to herself once more.

He exited the bathroom, glass of water in his hand. "Y' sure y' don't want any?" he teased as he sat down on the bed.

"Yeah… positive. The last thing Ah need is you slippin' me another one of the concoctions you've come across."

Remy pouted adorably, his eyes blazing. "An' here I t'ought y' trusted me, Anna."

"Oh stop it!" she laughed. "One, you absolutely cannot pull off lookin' innocent. Y barely managed when we were kids. Two, Ah trust ya; just not ta keep me conscious."

The pout disappeared and was immediately replaced with his usual lopsided smirk. He raised the glass to his lips and took a sip of water, the smile still in place. "Fine, fine, y' got me."

Rogue watched in silence as he drank from the glass once more before placing it on the table beside the bed. He sighed and slid down in the bed so he was level with her once again. "Y' tired yet?"

"A li'l," she responded, fighting a yawn. "What time are we gettin' up tomorrow?"

"Early… I want t' get dere by noon an' we have another couple of hours ahead of us. We should pro'bly try t' get some sleep," he suggested as he glanced over Rogue and saw the glare of red digital numbers, reminding him how late it really was and how much sleep they'd already missed in the previous hours of laying awake.

She twisted, following his gaze and saw the soft glow of numbers change to 2:39 AM. She laughed lightly as she settled facing him again, "Yeah… maybe we should." She squirmed in her spot for a moment, getting comfortable enough for some hopeful slumber. Remy smiled and began to stand up. He was about to say good night when Rogue suddenly whispered, "Wait."

He stopped, half off the bed. "What's wrong?"

"There's…" she squeaked out in a small voice. Remy couldn't see it, but simply knew she was blushing furiously. She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued. "There's no reason foh you ta have ta sleep on the couch. The bed's huge."

He glanced to where he'd been sitting and where she'd been laying over the course of their conversation. True, there would be plenty of room between them. "Y' sure?" he asked nonchalantly.

She nodded against the pillow. "Ah said earlier that ya needed some sleep an' you're obviously not gettin' it on the couch," she claimed.

He leaned onto the bed again, his eyes blazing with the smirk he couldn't contain. "De bed obviously ain' workin' f' you eit'er, _chére_."

"Remy, stop actin' like a hot shot an' just get in ta bed. It's not like Ah'm askin' ya ta sleep with me," she murmured hotly.

He stood up for a moment to turn over the blankets on his side of the bed so he could slide in under them. Rogue unconsciously shifted over a centimeter more, not quite sure why she invited him to stay in the bed with her anymore. She watched as he settled into his spot close to the edge of the bed, fluffing the pillows just right under his head. "Y'll let me know if I toss an' turn, _hein_?"

"Ah guess we'll find out in the mornin' if ya don't wake up," she joked lightly, knowing it wasn't all that funny.

He smiled, lacing his fingers behind his head as he rested on his back. His head lolled to the side so he could look at her. "Get some sleep, _chére_."

She sighed, closing her eyes. "G'night, Remy," she whispered softly as she snuggled into her pillow.

"_Bonne nuit_, Anna." He surveyed her for a moment, maybe hoping to catch that moment that she fell into sleep. She'd managed to tuck her white forelocks behind her ear again before she'd said good night, so Remy could catch the slight glow of her pale skin in the faint moonlight. The blush had faded, and he saw her long, dark eyelashes whisper against her alabaster cheeks.

The more time he spent with her, he witnessed her shields as the Rogue diminish. He knew that she felt comfort in the persona she'd created for herself in the last few years. The X-Men only knew her as Rogue and therefore, she'd been able to live in that security of being anonymous and mysterious along with being aloof without too much hassle from them. To say he was flattered that she'd opened up to him as much as she had wouldn't be the correct feeling – sure, he was thrilled that she hadn't felt the need to keep herself locked away considering all that had happened, but he could see right through it. She was more than aware of how he saw her and appreciated it more than she thought he realized. He smiled, letting himself recognize how much he'd enjoyed their time together, even under the odd and dismal circumstances. The thought of it all ending tomorrow snuck into his mind as he watched her for one more second, remembering what it was like the first time that he'd dreaded their imminent separation.

Sighing, his stare shifted to the ceiling, much like it had been before Rogue had called him over to the bed in the first place. He blinked wearily, feeling the long day finally weigh him down. The comfort of the bed surrounded him, silently cuddling him into slumber.

-----

Translations:

Anna_ se faire à ravir_ – Anna grew up **nicely**.

_De trajet_ – Of course

_très magnifique_ – very gorgeous/beautiful

_mon plus jeune frère_ – my younger brother

_Vous, aussi_._ – _You, too.

_une scabreux personne_ – an improper person/someone without manners

Once again, these are mainly from a translator and rough at best… that's what I get for taking German in school instead of French.

-----

So here we are… six months after my last update. (facepalm) I'm terrible, I know. Instead of sprouting excuses (which I have none, save for extreme laziness), we'll just go on the hope that the next chapter will come out quicker.

I hope you enjoyed this one. It's a lot of filler before the actual beef of Rogue and Gambit being in New Orleans and doing what needs to be done to save Jean Luc… but hopefully their continued interactions and slowly bourgeoning relations were enough for the chapter. Review and let me know!

As always, much love!

-- Courtney


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